BANGOR – Bangor High School’s team statisticians may have to put in for some overtime after the rushing clinic the Rams put on against Lawrence of Fairfield at Cameron Stadium Friday night.

The Rams rushed for a season-high 398 yards and almost doubled Lawrence’s offensive yardage en route to a 49-31 victory over the visiting Bulldogs.

The game was more lopsided than the score would indicate.

The 3-0 Rams punted only once, rolled up 443 total yards after taking the first-stringers out midway through the third quarter, and got all their players into the game.

A perfect example of Bangor’s dominance was the effort of backup tailback Willie Kane, who didn’t expect to play much, but gained 114 yards on 10 carries after entering the game late in the third quarter.

“That’s where our depth comes in, I think. We’ve got like three or four good tailbacks,” said quarterback Tommy Waterman. “This is the first game we’ve actually gotten everyone in. That’s what our goal was today.”

Waterman was unstoppable, outracing the Lawrence defense on sweeps and jetting into the open field untouched on broken plays.

“Waterman’s a hell of an athlete,” said first-year Lawrence coach Brad Bishop. “Take him out of the game and… it might be a different game.”

Maybe, but Bangor’s offensive line was making life easy for the Ram running backs all night and the Ram receivers were clearing the open spaces.

“Our receivers always block real well. They all have almost perfect form on blocks. That makes it easy for when we get outside,” said Waterman, who ran for 161 yards, scored three touchdowns, passed for another one, and scored on a two-point conversion run.

He also raced untouched into the end zone twice: on a 4-yard TD run with 5:13 left in the first quarter and on a 40-yard, sew-it-up scoring run down the left sideline to make it 42-7 Bangor less than a minute into the second half.

“Tommy’s a tremendous player. We tell him just to let it all hang out. He’s been terrific. He seems a lot more relaxed just letting it all hang out,” said Bangor coach Gabby Price.

Whether or not they wanted to admit it or not, the game must have been especially satisfying for Bangor veterans like Waterman. The last time the two teams hooked up, the Bulldogs pasted Bangor 35-0 in the Pine Tree Conference championship game. This time around, it was the Rams handing the 2-1 Bulldogs a reality check.

After Bangor scored on its first two possessions, it looked like the rout was on, but the Lawrence players lived up to their school nickname and dug in. They responded to Bangor’s second score with a 15-play scoring drive covering 62 yards and eating up almost five minutes.

Brandon Knox capped the Dogs’ drive with a four-yard TD run up the gut. Lawrence’s tailback tallied 129 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries.

The euphoria of cutting Bangor’s 14-point lead in half was short-lived however, as fullback Hampton Clarkson broke an 80-yard punt return for a touchdown.

“That was a big turning point. We knew after they had that long drive on our defense, we had to step it up and play stronger, more fundamentally sound football and that got us going,” said Rams captain and guard Eric Vogell who – along with center Brian Webber, tackles Caleb Smith and Ryan Russell, and guards Ben Morse – opened up gaping holes.

Clarkson shook off two initial tackles at the Rams’ 30 and ran unmolested up the middle of the field to make it 21-7 with 8:27 left in the first half. It was the start of 28 unanswered Bangor points.

“We took that drive and made it 14-7. We thought we had the momentum back on our side, but we botched up that punt return,” said Bishop, whose Bulldogs also killed themselves with eight penalties – six for illegal motion on offense – and shoddy special teams play on kickoffs, especially the first two. Both times, the ‘Dogs started at their own 20.

“When you have to go from your 20, not many teams drive 80 yards. That was a key,” Price said. Rams 49, Bulldogs 31

Lawrence (2-1) 7 0 8 16 – 31

Bangor (3-0) 14 21 14 0 – 49

B – Clarkson 46 run (Sarjeant kick)

B – Waterman 4 run (Sarjeant kick)

L – Knox 4 run (Jonassen kick)

B – Clarkson 80 punt return (Sarjeant kick)

B – Scott 15 pass from Waterman (kick blocked)

B – Waterman 20 run (Waterman rush)

B – Waterman 40 run (Sarjeant kick)

L – Knox 1 run (West pass to Ward)

L – Knights 4 run (West pass to Johnson)

L – Hanes 74 fumble return (West pass to Johnson)

Lawrence Bangor

First downs 14 15 Rushing att. – yds 50-231 43-398 Passing cmp. – att. 2-6 2-4 Yards passing 17 45 Total yards 248 443 Intercepted by 0 0 Punts – avg. 6-26.8 1-23.0 Fumbles – lost 0-0 3-1 Penalties – yds 8-45 1-15

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Lawrence: Knox 22-129, Knights 9-36, Robinson 9-27, Hotham 7-15, Nadeau 2-13, West 1-11; Bangor: Waterman 11-161, Kane 10-114, Clarkson 7-70, McLean 5-32, Chadbourne 4-12, Cooper 1-4, McAuliffe 3-4, Sargent 1-2, Richardson 1-(-1)

PASSING – Lawrence: Hotham 1-4-0-3, West 1-2-0-14; Bangor: Waterman 2-4-0-45

RECEIVING – Lawrence: Nadeau 1-14, Robinson 1-3; Bangor: McLean 1-30, Scott 1-15