The glass was three-quarters full when it came to last weekend’s football story.

Freeport (a 32-14 home winner over Gray-New Gloucester) and Greely (which routed visiting Fryeburg, 54-18) got in the victory column for the first time.

Falmouth continued its strong start and improved to 2-0 with a 55-14 home victory over Morse.

Yarmouth, meanwhile, fell to 1-1, but not without another strong effort in a 20-12 loss at defending Class C state champion Leavitt.

First one

Freeport lost its opener, 59-14, at preseason favorite Spruce Mountain, but in their home opener Saturday against Gray-New Gloucester, the Falcons put it all together, on both sides of the ball.

Peter Lamagna had two touchdown runs in the first period. Quarterback Eli Fox threw a TD pass to Jake Perry in the second and despite surrendering a safety, Freeport had an 18-2 lead at halftime. After a third Lamagna scoring run made it 26-2, the Patriots roared back to pull within 26-14. Tyler Julien then put it away with a late TD run.

Lamagna wound up with 185 rushing yards. Fox completed 4-of-6 passes for 92 yards and a TD. He also intercepted a pass on defense. Freeport produced 423 yards of offense (331 came on the ground).

“It was a good effort on offense and defense,” said Falcons coach Rob Grover. “It sure is nice to get in the win column. It got a little scary when they came back. We faltered a little bit with penalties and turnovers, but we came out of it.”

Friday, Freeport goes to 1-1 Poland, which just missed upsetting Cape Elizabeth last weekend. Last year, the Falcons held off the visiting Knights, 7-0.

“It won’t be easy,” Grover said. “They’re better than last year. We’ll have to play a great game to beat them.”

As for Greely, it lost its opener at Western B preseason favorite Marshwood, 47-0, but the Rangers were without several key players in that one. Quarterback Matt Pisini was among those back in action Friday (on Military Appreciation Night) and Greely made quick work of Fryeburg, finding the end zone six times in the first quarter alone.

Pisini opened the scoring with a long touchdown run. Andrew Ray added a punt return for a TD and the Rangers were quickly on top, 14-0. After the Raiders got on the board, Pisini had another long TD run, Ray returned an interception for a score and Sam Peck had a long scoring run to make it 34-6. Fryeburg got a touchdown, but Pisini hit Nick Dubois with a long TD pass for a 41-12 advantage after just 12 minutes. A Peck TD run and Peck punt return for a score accounted for the rest of Greely’s points. The Raiders got one more score and that was that as Greely went on to the 54-18 win.

“It’s nice to have all our injured guys back,” said Rangers coach David Higgins. “That made a big difference. It was big for confidence. All kinds of crazy stuff happened. It was a long first quarter. We were very fortunate. Fryeburg has some good players. They beat (defending Western B champion) Kennebunk (in week one), so we took them seriously. We were a little rusty, but we did what we needed to do.”

The Rangers look to improve to 2-1 Friday when they go to winless Gorham. Last year, Greely handled the visiting Rams, 69-3.

“We won’t overlook them,” Higgins said. “Hopefully, we’ll be focused and we’ll take care of business.”

Better than advertised

Falmouth, which rolled at Gorham in its opener, 49-0, made quick work of Morse. Long touchdown runs from George Gilbert and Connor Aube made it 14-0 after one period. An Aube TD run and a touchdown pass from Noah Nelson to Aube pushed the lead to 27-0 at halftime. Aube continued his domination by returning the second half kickoff for a TD, then added a scoring run before Sean Bryant’s touchdown scamper made it 48-7 after three periods. Nico Ciraulo’s scoring run accounted for the 55-14 final score. Aube had 177 yards on 13 carries and wound up with five total touchdowns.

The Yachtsmen will receive their first big test Friday when they go to 2-0 York. Last year, Falmouth lost at home to the perennially strong Wildcats, 34-0.

Great effort

Yarmouth was coming off a season-opening 41-0 victory at Gray-New Gloucester and while it played very well against Leavitt, it fell just short.

The Hornets held a 14-0 lead well into the second quarter before the Clippers got within striking distance when Jack Snyder had a touchdown run and quarterback John Thoma threw a touchdown pass to Snyder. The conversion failed, but the Hornets were dearly holding on to 14-12 lead, and there was still plenty of time left for the visitors to score again.

But the Hornets’ defense stepped it up in the fourth quarter and staved off the Clippers. And when Leavitt got the ball back, the Hornets fought their way for a touchdown to hold on, 20-12.

“I am very happy with (my guys),” Yarmouth coach Jason Veilleux said. “They played a great game. We are all juniors for the most part, so we are a strong team.”

The Clippers play their home opener Friday night versus 0-2 Lake Region. Last fall, Yarmouth beat the Lakers in Naples, 63-0.

Sun Journal staff editor Tony Blasi contributed to this story

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.

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