FAIRFIELD – If any of the younger members of Bangor’s football team thought Friday night’s game with winless Lawrence would be an easy win, they needed only to look at Bangor’s 0-2 record against the Bulldogs in their last two meetings at Keyes Field.

It looked like that frustration at Lawrence’s “Dog Pound” might continue after fumbles ended each of Bangor’s first two drives, setting up a Lawrence touchdown and squelching a would-be Bangor scoring drive.

But the 2-1 Rams were able to shake off the early mistakes. They did so thanks to their stingy defensive line, the big-play effort of converted fullback Willie Kane, some timely passing by sophomore quarterback Joe Vanidestine, and another big yardage game out of converted tailback Hampton Clarkson.

Clarkson notched his second straight 100-plus yardage game and the Rams scored 20 unanswered points to knock off the Bulldogs 20-6 at Pete Cooper Stadium.

The 6-foot-2 Clarkson shook off an early case of fumblitis and totalled 153 yards and two touchdowns on 37 carries. Kane came a few yards short of giving the Rams dual 100-yard rushers with 95 yards on 14 rushes.

“Teams with two senior backs in the backfield usually are very successful and they have two seniors back there who are real good,” said Lawrence coach Brad Bishop. “But I’ll tell you, for a young team with only one senior starting on offense, this was our best effort. The kids played great.”

After Clarkson’s fumble 42 seconds into the game, the 0-3 Bulldogs mounted an eight-play drive covering 58 yards and ending with Don Thibodeau’s three-yard TD run 3 1/2 minutes later.

Bangor came back with a 10-play drive that covered 71 yards, but Clarkson’s fumble at the L-12 was recovered by the Dogs’ Tom Hanes. Two plays later, the Rams’ defense came up with its first big play as defensive tackle Andrew Hess jarred the ball loose on a second-and-7 play from the L-13 and Clarkson and Kane fell on it.

Two plays later, Vanidestine lofted a pass into the right corner of the end zone that was gathered up nicely by James Bradford and the Rams took a 7-6 lead with 1:10 left in the first quarter.

After Bangor’s defense forced the ‘Dogs to go 3-and-out, Bangor drove from its 30 to the Lawrence 9, but couldn’t get any further than the 4 as the ‘Dogs defense stiffened.

Lawrence’s offense again went 3-and-out before Kris Knights’ 33-yard punt was returned 30 yards, thanks to a well-executed reverse exchange between Willie Baird and Matt Soucie, who sprinted right for a 29-yard return.

Two plays later, Clarkson galloped through the end zone on a 7-yard rush. Bangor capped the scoring with a ball-control drive covering 48 yards – all on 10 runs by Clarkson – that ate up four minutes in the fourth quarter.

“We had some very good defensive stands that set up a couple of our scores,” said Clarkson, who came back with several good defensive plays after his fumbles. “If I can’t do it one end, I’ve got to do it on the other.”

“We don’t let ourselves get down after mistakes. We just try to work even harder,” said Kane, whose lead blocking has helped Clarkson total 501 yards in his last two games.

Bangor head coach Gabby Price was especially happy with the play of his offensive and defensive lines.

“Lawrence’s offensive line came off the line well against us. I was very impressed with the way they played,” said Price. “But our defensive line played its best game so far and our kids played very well up front.”

Rams 20, Bulldogs 6

Bangor (2-1) 7 6 0 7 – 20

Lawrence (0-3) 6 0 0 0 – 6

L – Thibodeau 3 run (kick failed)

B – Bradford 12 pass from Vanidestine (Sarjeant kick)

B – Clarkson 7 run (kick blocked)

B – Clarkson 2 run (Sarjeant kick)

Bangor Lawrence

First downs 15 7 Rushing att. – yds 53-254 35-119 Passing cmp. – att. 3-5 2-5 Yards passing 31 17 Total yards 285 136 Intercepted by 0 0 Punts – avg. 1-25 5-31 Fumbles – lost 4-3 3-2 Penalties – yds 5-31 1-15

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Bangor: Clarkson 37-153, Kane 14-95, Vanidestine 2-6; Lawrence: Knights 17-66, Nadeau 7-33, Savage 5-13, Thibodeau 3-7, Hotham 3-0

PASSING – Bangor: Vanidestine 3-5-0-31; Lawrence: Hotham 2-5-0-1

RECEIVING – Bangor: Baird 1-14, Bradford 1-12, Clarkson 1-5; Lawrence: Johnson 1-12, Nadeau 1-5