ALEXANDRIA FRAIZE (right) heads the ball up the sideline against Wells Monday. The Raiders won 1-0. (Rivet Photos)

FOOTBALL

Some teams seem to panic when they trail in a ball game and see that time is running out.

For the Raiders, quickening the pace seems to keep more players focused with less time to “overthink” the game.

For the fifth time this year, the Raiders beat the clock, working their two-minute drill to near perfection Saturday as Billy Rascoe capped off a game-winning drive with under a minute left to rally Fryeburg Academy to a 22-21 victory over Morse (2-2).

“The two-minute drill is something we practice. We’ve actually scored four times (twice at Mt. Ararat, one at the end of the half and late in the game) in our two-minute drill this season. We always stress to our team that we have to keep playing. We did before the half Saturday, although we didn’t score, we marched the ball down the field,” FA Coach David Turner said. “I think we’re comfortable doing it. We have confidence doing it.”

Could the “hurry up” become part of the regular Raider offensive arsenal?

“At times, we might do it. We’ve scored on our opening drive three of our four games. The only one we didn’t, we dropped a touchdown pass against Mt. Ararat. We’ve opened up scoring. We’ve moved the ball every game we’ve played in,” Coach Turner said.

Rascoe scored on a 3-yard burst in the final minute, and quarterback Ryan Gullikson added the two-point conversion.

The Raiders nailed down their first win of the season, but it wasn’t easy. After taking the lead, the FA defense had to come up big as the Shipbuilders kept the pressure on with a big kickoff return on a squib kick and a Raider facemask penalty to place the ball at the FA-30.

ISABEL HODGMAN-BURNS of Fryeburg Academy waits for a sideline toss to descend against Wells. Hodgman-Burns scored the game's only goal.

Fryeburg’s Willy Macfawn recorded a key sack. Then, defensive back Ben Southwick ended the threat with an interception.

Fryeburg had touchdown runs by Rascoe (2) and Cody Loewe.

Morse took a 14-8 lead early in the fourth.

Saturday was a good bounce-back game for the Raiders, who were spanked by Mt. Ararat last week.

“People look at Mt. Ararat and may not think much about them, but they were playing in Eastern Maine Class A against some very good programs like Bangor and Skowhegan. They’re physical and were ready for us,” Coach Turner said. “Additionally, they got back five starters, which they didn’t have the first two weeks. They’re not awful. We played well at times, but we got a little beat up.”

Although the Raiders had played well in spurts so far, they had nothing to show for it.

“We were 0-3, and to come back against a 2-1 team was really good. We should have won by more. We controlled the line of scrimmage, we stopped them, but we just couldn’t score and put the game away,” Coach Turner said.

Morse scored on a 65-yard punt return when the Raiders were unable to finish off tackles, having pinned the Shipbuilder runner along the sideline — the only score of the first half.

Another breakdown led to another Morse score. A halfback pass caught a Raider defender sneaking up, while in man-coverage allowing the Shipbuilder receiver all kinds of space for a touchdown.

“We then drove down the field, but we couldn’t finish,” Coach Turner said. “Seems that’s what we did most of the day. We had a touchdown dropped at the end of the half. We did a lot of things well. We really needed a win.”

The fourth quarter was when the Raiders pieced it all together.

JULIA QUINN (left) looks to control the ball against Wells.

Morse had scored on what Coach Turner thought was a critical “non-call,” which put the Shipbuilders up 20-14.

Unable to pick up a first down, Coach Turner had the Raiders punt in hopes his defense could hold Morse and leave enough time on the clock for a final FA drive.

“We really couldn’t go for it there because it was fourth and really long, 12 or 14 yards on our side of the field,” he said. “With 3 ½ minutes left, we needed stops. We had been playing well defensively. We called our three timeouts and stopped them.”

Pulling a victory out in the last minute was truly exciting before the Homecoming crowd, but Coach Turner also liked the contributions of several reserves, who now might find themselves seeing more action down the road — giving the coaching staff a chance to rest some starters from time to time.

“What was nice to see was that we had some guys out and others — like Matt Boucher, Kyle Provencher, Angel Escalante, Nick Armstrong, Donovan Brown — stepped in and played well,” Coach Turner said.

Next: The Raiders host Oceanside this Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The Mariners (3-5 a year ago) visit Fryeburg with a 0-4 record, coming off three big losses to Marshwood (53-8), Kennebunk (63-6) and Falmouth (55-6).

But, Coach Turner will certainly preach to his Raiders not to look past Oceanside, which lost to Morse in the season opener 23-16.

“Oceanside is a lot like us. They played Morse tough to start the year and have since had some injuries. It seems everybody always gets healthy when it comes time to play us,” Coach Turner said. “It’s going to be a battle. We’re trying to focus on getting better this week. Trying to eliminate those mistakes that come with inexperience. And, if we can limit those and play well, we have a really good shot.”

BOYS’ SOCCER

Ignago Caulla Ferrer scored a pair of goals to pace the Raiders (3-3-1) as they cruised past the Warriors (1-7) at Wells. Joe Schrader, Tucker Huppe, Ben Davis, Gabe Perry and Paulo Marin each added a goal for Fryeburg. Cody Cousins scored for Wells.

Next: The Raiders host North Yarmouth Academy on Friday at 4 p.m.

FIELD HOCKEY

York 4, Raiders 0: Although the Raiders were blanked at York 4-0 last Monday, Coach Frost saw her club give the Wildcats all they could handle over the first 21 minutes of the game, which had the teams tied 0-0.

“We held our own,” she said. “York scored two goals in the last nine minutes of the first half and two goals in the second half.  The first half of the game was a pleasant surprise and showed a great deal of skill by both teams.”

In the second half, the Raiders were unable to maintain control of the ball for any great length of time or initiate enough offensive momentum. Coach Frost liked what she saw in the play of Madison Davis, Jasmine Ramsay (goalie), Sydney Andreoli, Makayla Frost and Mary Shea.

Raiders 2, Sacopee Valley 0: Bridgett Tweedie scored the game winner in the first half, assisted by Makayla Frost, to lead the Raiders to a shutout over the Hawks. Tweedie scored again in the second half, assisted by Nicole Thurston.

“The highlight of the Sacopee game was the first goal scored.  We were awarded a corner and the girls executed the called play to perfection,” Coach Frost said. “There was a tremendous amount of satisfaction scoring on a play that is practiced over and over at practice, and seeing all that hard work pay off.  The team as a whole played very well.”

Raiders 2, Patriots 0:

Next: The Raiders travel today, Thursday, to Lake Region for a 4 p.m. game, then host Cape Elizabeth on Monday at 4 p.m.

CROSS-COUNTRY

With the conference championships just two weeks away, Coach Bill Reilly likes to put his runners to a big test within a big field.

So, the Raiders traveled to Manchester, N.H. this past Saturday to take part in the Manchester Invitational at Derryfield Park.

The FA boys were among a field of 30 teams and a total of 229 runners. The Raiders placed 12th overall with Patrick Carty leading the way with a time of 17:15, good for 24th and a medal. Other finishers were:

57. TJ Rose, 18:14

60. Eric Hannes, 18:17

88. Liuke Yang, 18:50

119. Liam LeConey, 19:27

141. Jonathan Burk, 19:47

176. Tyler O’Keefe, 20:48

In junior varsity action, there were 326 runners and 44 teams. FA was 38th overall.

129. Sullivan Briggs, 20:20

225. Njemile Philip, 21:54

250. David Powers, 22:30

275. Nicholas Kiesman, 22:41

280. Jesse Liljedahl, 23:42

301. Reed Wales, 25:51

Competing in the freshmen race were Christian Bedell (60th at 13:06) and Ethan Swayze (202nd at 15:16). There were 256 runners.

On the girls’ side, Anna Lastra checked in at 21:18 for 28th in a field of 194 competitors — good for a medal. The Raiders were 16th out of 26 teams. Here’s how other FA girls fared:

68. Juliet Fink, 22:44

105. Ariel Fogden, 24:03

112. Abby Davis, 24:31

155. Kristen Dostie, 26:37

In the JV race, there were 259 runners with Chelsea Abraham placing 215th in 29:07 and Amber Dindorf 227th in 30:12.

Next: The Raiders travel to Freeport this Friday to meet the Falcons and Wells, girls at 4:30 p.m. and boys at 5 p.m.