Hermon has outscored its last two opponents 106 to 6. Fifty-five to nothing over Hampden Academy, then fifty-one to six over Medomak Valley the following week. That combined score is not just a good stretch for a team sitting at 4-0. It is the actual story of this Hermon season, more than the record itself, because both of those opponents used to make the Hawks work for a win.
The team chasing its first state football championship in program history has done something specific through four games this fall: it has played four opponents it already knew, from a season that ended in a state title game and a season after that which ended one round short, and it has beaten all four by wider margins than it ever managed before.
The Same Four Opponents, Different Margins
Hermon's current run traces back to November 2024, when the Hawks beat Medomak Valley 24-14 in the Class C North championship game at Hampden Academy to reach the program's first state title game. They lost that final 28-0 to Fryeburg Academy, a Raiders team that was ending a 59-year championship drought of its own. A year later, in the 2025 semifinals, Leavitt of Turner routed Hermon 47-14 before losing the state final to Greely.
Both finishes were losses, but neither one erased the four regular-season opponents Hermon had already handled that first title year, teams the Hawks are now facing again in 2026 with a different result attached to each name.
| Opponent | 2024 Result | 2026 Result | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nokomis | Won 28-26 | Won 28-6 | +20 |
| Hampden Academy | Won 22-21 | Won 55-0 | +34 |
| Foxcroft Academy | Lost 0-17 | Won 24-0 | +41 |
| Medomak Valley | Won 24-14 (C North final) | Won 51-6 | +35 |
Foxcroft Academy is the one worth sitting with. In October 2024, Foxcroft shut out Hermon 17-0, a game the Hawks needed a bounce-back win over Brewer the following week just to steady themselves after. This September, Hermon returned the favor and then some, shutting out Foxcroft 24-0. A team that once held Hermon scoreless got held scoreless itself.
The Nokomis and Hampden Academy games tell a quieter version of the same story. Both were one-score games in 2024, the kind of Friday nights that come down to a single possession. This year neither was competitive past the second quarter.
What Changed Between the Roster and the Record
Tenth-year head coach Kyle Gallant has been direct about why, calling this squad "probably my best all-around team especially when it comes to experience and depth, leadership and culture." Through the first three games of the season, that depth showed up on defense as much as offense: Hermon allowed a combined six points across wins over Foxcroft Academy, Nokomis, and Hampden Academy, a level of control that simply was not there in the closer 2024 versions of those same matchups.
Two seniors are doing double duty on both sides of the ball. Sam Hopkins, a hybrid slotback, leads the team in rushing and also starts at linebacker. Dylan Yeo lines up at fullback and running back on offense and linebacker on defense. Gallant has pointed to both as the two-way difference-makers behind this year's start.
There is a family thread running under Hopkins' name specifically. His older brother, Max Hopkins, was the workhorse back on the 2024 team that reached the state final, rushing for more than 900 yards that season and scoring all four Hermon touchdowns in the regional championship win over Medomak Valley. Two years later, a second Hopkins is the one carrying the ball for Hermon, and the results against that same opponent have only gotten more lopsided.
The Roadblocks Still Standing
None of this guarantees Hermon anything. Fryeburg Academy is still the last team to actually beat the Hawks for a state title, and that Raiders program had waited 59 years for its own championship before it happened. Leavitt, the team that ended Hermon's 2025 season with a 47-14 semifinal win, went on to lose the state final to Greely, which says less about Hermon's ceiling than it does about how difficult this bracket has been for everyone in it, Hermon included.
What the four games so far actually show is narrower and more useful than a prediction. The opponents that used to make Hermon sweat are the same opponents Hermon is now beating comfortably. Whether that holds up against Leavitt or a Fryeburg-caliber team later in the season is a different question, and one the schedule hasn't answered yet.
The Stands Have More Reason to Fill Too
Pottle Field itself has changed since that 2024 run. Hermon broke ground on a new track and athletic complex there in January 2023, a project town officials described at the time as the culmination of roughly 20 years of community fundraising and planning. One official at the groundbreaking called it "a whole other level of excitement" for a town he said was already known for its Friday night football crowds. The current roster is the first to play a full season with that investment finished around it.
Hermon hosts its next home game at Pottle Field with a 4-0 record and a defense that has given up six points in three of its four wins. The number that matters this week isn't the record. It's whatever the scoreboard reads against the next familiar name on the schedule.
If Friday nights at Pottle Field are part of what makes Hermon feel like home to you, that's the kind of local detail Aimi Baldwin Real Estate likes keeping track of too. We're always glad to hear what's happening in the town we work in.
