Bangor and Lawrence banged helmets in a key PTC A showdown. The Rams won to take control of the conference (Taylar Donaldson photo)
Bangor is No. 1 and Lawrence is No. 2 — for now. Brunswick is No. 3 and Messalonskee is No. 4 — for now.
After the top four come a group led by Lewiston (5-2), Cony (3-4) and Skowhegan (3-4). The regular season wraps up in Pine Tree Conference Class A this weekend, and the race for the playoffs still rages.
The Rams (7-0) certainly helped their cause with a big 28-21 win over the defending conference champ Bulldogs (6-1) last weekend. Bangor snapped Lawrence’s run of 36 straight regular season wins.
Senior running back Lonnie Hackett established himself as the frontrunner for the Fitzpatrick Trophy, which is given annually to the state’s top senior.
Hackett rushed for 171 yards and three touchdowns on a whopping 39 carries. He leads the PTC A with 1,426 rushing yards.
“He plays hard all the time,” Bangor coach Mark Hackett said. “He has no ego and he’s still looking for the perfect game. If you want to see Lonnie do something, tell him he can’t do it and see what happens.”
How the playoff field turns out is anyone’s guess at this point.
Lawrence and Messalonskee (5-2) play Friday night in another game ripe with playoff implications.
Skowhegan plays Mt. Blue (2-5), which could slip into the eighth spot with a win.
Another challenger for the eighth and final spot?
Mt. Ararat (2-5), which hosts the Dragons (6-1) on Saturday in the annual rivalry game.
Cony will finish sixth or seventh, but who it plays in the quarterfinals also is yet to be determined.
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