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BANGOR – If Friday night’s crucial game against Mt. Blue of Farmington was a final exam for Bangor’s secondary, defensive backs Duane Peoples and Mike DeVeau earned the equivalent of Rhodes Scholarships.
Peoples intercepted three passes, one of which he returned for a momentum-swinging touchdown, and DeVeau picked off another in Bangor’s solid 29-6 victory over the Cougars.
Bangor improves to 6-2 to stay in solid playoff contention with a share of second place. The loss all but knocks 4-4 Mt. Blue out of the hunt.
On a perfect night for football at Cameron Stadium, Peoples delivered a near-perfect performance.
Bangor’s cornerback helped hold Jon McCabe, Mt. Blue’s game-breaking wideout and the Pine Tree Conference’s leading receiver, to 56 yards – nine below his per-game average – while also coming up to provide solid run support with jarring hits.
“We knew they were going to come out firing the gun, so we wanted to play aggressive and cut down their passing lanes,” said Peoples. “We got very physical with them and that seemed to help us control what they were going to do.”
What the Cougars did was sputter in passing situations. Quarterback Davyd Collinson, the PTC’s top gun coming in with 1,083 yards on 54 percent passing, was unable to get into a rhythm, thanks to the Rams’ aggressive pass defense.
“We didn’t expect them to change their defense because they never change,” said Collinson. “We couldn’t run well, so they just sat in the 4-1 scheme instead of a basic cover 3. I was surprised, yeah. I didn’t expect that and we didn’t prepare for it.”
“We wanted to stop the run and give them the short pass stuff, but we weren’t about to get beat deep,” DeVeau said.
After both teams traded short drives in their first three possessions, Bangor mounted the kind of drive Mt. Blue coach Gary Parlin dreaded coming in: a 14-play, marathon drive evaporating almost six minutes off the clock and ending with a one-yard touchdown run by Hampton Clarkson. Clarkson (132 yards) was apparently stopped for no gain on 4th-and-goal at the MB1, but managed to strain his way to his 18th rushing TD on a second effort lunge with 8:29 left in the second quarter..
Less than a minute later, Peoples made it 14-0 Bangor after snagging Collinson’s pass to the right flat and running it back 18 yards along the left (home) sideline for a score.
The Rams scored their third touchdown of the second quarter courtesy of another long (10-play) drive featuring seven runs, one of which was Clarkson’s six-yard score with 2:02 left in the half.
Mt. Blue provided a flicker of hope for their fans when they began the second half with a seven-play scoring drive covering 79 yards. Collinson capped the drive by sweeping eight yards over the left side for the score.
The Rams failed to muster any points in the third quarter, but took firm control of the game early in the fourth after their defense stopped an energized Cougars team on 4th-and-inches at the MB49 with 7:29 left to play.
James Bradford led a host of Rams tacklers to Mt. Blue’s Randy Hutchinson as Hutchinson desperately tried to get outside on the left and Hutchinson was ridden down for a four-yard loss.
It took the resurgent Rams only 40 seconds to put the game on ice as fullback Willie Kane reeled off 31 of his 102 yards on a burst over right tackle and a cut inside for the longest scoring play of the game.
Rams 29, Cougars 6
Mt. Blue (4-4) 0 0 6 0 – 6
Bangor (6-2) 0 21 0 8 – 29
B – Clarkson 1 run (Sarjeant kick)
B – Peoples 18 interception return (Sarjeant kick)
B – Clarkson 6 run (Sarjeant kick)
MB – Collinson 8 run (kick failed)
B – Kane 31 run (Cammack rush)
Mt. Blue Bangor
First downs 9 13 Rushing att. – yds 26-110 50-237 Passing cmp. – att. 11-25 2-7 Yards passing 91 11 Total yards 201 248 Intercepted by 1 4 Punts – avg. 3-30.3 28.2 Fumbles – lost 1-0 2-0 Penalties – yds 10-87 6-40
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Mt. Blue: Hutchinson 15-62, Childs 2-22, Averill 5-21, Collinson 4-5; Bangor: Clarkson 30-137, Kane 16-102, Vanidestine 1-1, Michaud 2-1, Soucie 1-(-4)
PASSING – Mt. Blue: Collinson 11-25-4-91; Bangor: Vanidestine 2-7-1-11
RECEIVING – Mt. Blue: McCabe 6-56, Shaw 1-13, Averill 2-12, Nile 1-10; Bangor: Soucie 2-11
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