Prepping For The NEWMAC

Maine Maritime Academy football has changed conference affiliation but the Mariners offensive scheme stays the same - run, run, run, the triple option.

The old New England Football Conference (NEFC) is no more. The Mariners are now part of the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC). It means more games against service academy schools like Merchant Marine and Coast Guard along with schools such as Springfield and Catholic in Washington D.C.

MMA will open the season September 2nd on the road against non-conference Maritime College of New York.

Coach Chris McKenney is in his 17th year running the MMA program. He is the school's winningest coach but admits victories have been hard to come by recently. Just one win last season.

The triple option offense racks up points but stopping the other team from scoring has been a problem. Last year MMA scored 36 PPG but gave up 40 PPG.

Two of the top three tacklers return on defense, senior captain LB Cody O'Brien (Cheverus HS) and junior DB John Bennett (Cony HS).

The Mariners offense returns its top three rushers. Senior fullback James Ferrar (Greely HS) carried the ball for 737 yards last season. Senior QB Corey Creeger (Biddeford HS) scored 15 TDs. And, RB Josh Doolan (Lawrence HS) was the third leading rusher and he's back for his senior year.

NOTE: Check out more on MMA's upcoming season and the new NEWMAC conference when coach Chris McKenney joins 'The Morning Pitch Show' Tuesday morning from 6a to 8a on Sports Radio 92.9 The Ticket and on the new Ticket App.