Brewer falls; Bangor rolls to victory> Rams’ `D,’ Waterman are keys

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BANGOR – This is the kind of game football coaches name captains for.

After his team was held in check in a scoreless first half, Bangor coach Gabby Price had a message for his quarterback.

“Coach was on me at the half, which was good for me,” said senior Tommy Waterman, one of Bangor’s tri-captains.

It was real good for Bangor too, as the Rams got their ground game going in the second half and literally ran away with a 22-6 victory at Cameron Stadium to up their Pine Tree Conference record to 2-0. Skowhegan dips to 1-1.

Waterman, who managed just two rushing yards on five carries and was 0-for-3 passing in the first half, exploded for 134 yards on nine carries in the second.

“He got on me and I think it got me going and got me motivated,” Waterman explained. “I kind of took the pressure off the other teammates and took it upon myself and got my teammates going.”

Hampton Clarkson certainly got going. The junior fullback simply refused to be tackled, at least by any one player, en route to 65 yards and two touchdowns on eight second-half rushes.

“We figured they were a little tired from the first half and we just wanted to pound it at them like we normally do,” said Clarkson. “It’s all attitude and how we go after it.”

Speaking of going after things, the Rams’ defense – led by Clarkson – was going after Indians running backs all night.

“Clarkson killed us on defense. He was a one-man stopper,” said coach Dave Evans, whose Indians were limited to 119 rushing yards.

Clarkson made at least four unassisted tackles and hurried quarterback Ben Clark into two incompletions. Almost all of his solo defensive plays ended Skowhegan drives.

Bangor’s defense stuffed the Indians inside Ram territory four times in the first half, twice inside Bangor’s 13-yard line. Meanwhile, Bangor was struggling on offense. The Rams drove to the Indians’ 17 on their second possession, but turned it over on fourth-and-2 with 2:45 left in the first quarter.

The Rams began the second half in high gear as Waterman picked up a first down at the Indians’ 43 on a 16-yard sweep. Eight plays later, tailback Chris McLean capped the 10-play, 83-yard drive with a 20-yard touchdown run.

McLean broke right on a sweep, and with no defenders an arm’s length away from him, outsprinted them to the corner to score untouched. The Rams took advantage of Skowhegan’s defensive aggressiveness by using sweeps, counters and some reverses, one unintentional, for big yardage.

“They overpursued the ball. I think that’s what made those plays so successful,” Waterman said.

After the Indians went four downs and out, Waterman went to work again, breaking free for a 25-yard run on a busted pass play in which he shook free from two would-be tacklers.

Clarkson finished the seven-play, 80-yard drive by bulling through two defenders at the Indians’ 3 and dragging them with him to the end zone to help put Bangor up 14-0 with 3:40 left in the third.

Clarkson made it 22-0 at the end of another long drive with 6:16 left to play. His 15-yard TD run capped a 10-play drive that ate up almost five minutes and 73 yards.

The Indians finally scored with a 15-play drive from their own 31. Tom Nadeau’s two-yard TD run with 52 seconds left broke the scoring drought.

Although Indians quarterback Clark completed 75 percent of his passes for 142 yards, the Rams’ defense looked good, especially when Skowhegan got inside the 20. Bangor also continued to display a punishing, grind-it-out offense with 296 yards on the ground.

“Our whole line is just tremendous and they just wear teams down,” said Waterman.

“I think we wore ourselves down a little bit. I think it’s more mental than it is physical,” said Evans.

The Rams also drastically improved their special teams play from a week ago.

Placekicker Scott Sarjeant, who missed two extra points last week, was 2-for-2 this time around. He credited former Rams and University of Maine kicker Chris Binder for helping him out this week.

“Last week, I kind of struggled. That first kick I missed, I let it get to me and struggled through the whole game,” said Sarjeant.

Bangor still had a little trouble holding onto the ball with a fumble early in the second quarter at its own 38, but the Rams held the Indians on fourth-and-5 with nine minutes to go before halftime.

“It’s a good win. We’re not ready for the hall of fame yet, but it’s a good win,” said Price.

Rams 22, Indians 6

Skowhegan (1-1) 0 0 0 6 – 6

Bangor (2-0) 0 0 14 8 – 22

B-McLean 20 run (Sarjeant kick)

B-Clarkson 7 run (Sarjeant kick)

B-Clarkson 15 run (Waterman rush)

S-Nadeau 2 run (pass failed)

Skowhegan Bangor

First downs 14 12 Rushing att. – yds 37-119 44-296 Passing cmp. – att. 15-20 0-5 Yards passing 142 0 Total yards 261 296 Intercepted by 0 0 Punts – avg. 3-26.3 2-27.5 Fumbles – lost 1-0 2-1 Penalties – yds 6-61 4-30

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Skowhegan: Whitmore 8-62, Nadeau 18-41, Farley 6-15, Clark 2-6, Williams 3-(-5); Bangor: Waterman 14-136, Clarkson 12-83, McLean 14-67, Kane 1-3, Stone 1-3, Sargent 1-2, Richardson 1-2

PASSING – Skowhegan: Clark 15-20-0-142; Bangor: Waterman 0-5-0-0

RECEIVING – Skowhegan: Welch 5-55, Saucier 3-30, Dodge 3-28, Whitmore 2-14, Nadeau 1-8, Delorie 1-7; Bangor: none