GARDINER – All season long, it’s been a different hero, a different unit that has won the game for the Bangor Rams.

It got so the postgame game ball presentation sounded more like a long-distance dedication by Casey Kasem: “I’d like to dedicate this game to the offensive line, this one goes to the defense, let’s hear it for the backfield, the secondary… the coaches.”

But after seven games, there was one unit which felt like it had yet to assert itself. The players on Bangor’s special teams units felt sort of left out.

That unit more than made up for lost time on a pleasant fall night at Hoch Field with a game-turning touchdown AND a game-winning, 23-yard field goal by Rams’ fullback-placekicker-punter Shawn Bouchard with six seconds left in the game.

The kick capped a dramatic Rams comeback as Bangor clinched its second regular season Pine Tree Conference championship in four years with a 12-10 victory over the tough and tenacious Gardiner Tigers.

The Rams, who are off next week, will take a 7-1 record and home-field advantage into the PTC playoffs, which begin Nov. 5. A game Gardiner squad falls to 1-6.

“All season long, [assistant] coach [Mark Hackett] has been telling us `Special teams is going to win a game for us, special teams’ll win a game for us’ and he was right. We did it tonight,” said Bouchard, who not only kicked the crucial field goal, but also rushed for 101 yards on 13 carries.

If that wasn’t enough, the junior Jack-of-all-Trades also made a big block for senior speedster Willie Baird during Baird’s momentum-yanking 83-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the third quarter.

“All I could see was just this big white wall,” said Baird. “I didn’t even see a black jersey until I was downfield near the end zone. It was great blocking all the way.”

Plus some agile moves and lightning speed by Baird. The senior split end, who had trouble holding onto the ball during kick returns earlier this season, plucked the ball out of the air at the Rams’ 17, took off up the middle of the field, and held onto the ball with a death grip as the field opened up before him.

Amazingly, the much heavier Bouchard was able to stay close by the Mercurial Baird and run out on the left point just in case there were any Tiger tacklers left to block

“Yeah, he’s pretty quick for a fullback,” Baird said with a grin. “I looked over and couldn’t believe he was still out there.”

Baird’s Blitzkrieg touchdown strike came just two seconds after Gardiner’s Andy Munzing capped an 11-play, 43-yard drive with a 22-yard field goal to make it 10-0 Tigers with 2:02 left in the third.

“That was the turning point for us right there,” said Rams coach Gabby Price. “We needed something big to happen and that was it. This was a great win against a well-coached team.”

The TD strike seemed to re-invigorate Bangor’s defense, which had been outstanding in the first half. The Rams dug in after Tigers’ back Chad Merrill ripped off a 42-yard gain on first down down to the B-27. End James Bradford muscled Zack Burke down for a 3-yard loss on the next play and, after a 3-yard gain by Merrill, stopped the Tigers with two straight pass incompletions.

After the Rams ran seven plays to start the final quarter, the Tigers took over at the G-12. After two runs for three yards, the Rams’ defense sniffed out a halfback option play by Gardiner and Bangor end Travis Brooker smacked into Burke at the G-10, knocking the ball loose. The ball squibbed out from under Burke into and out of several pairs of hands before Gardiner’s Robby Curry – who scored Gardiner’s lone TD on a 65-yard interception return in the second quarter – fell on it in the end zone for a Rams’ safety with 6:42 to play.

After Bangor drove to midfield only to turn it over on downs, Gardiner tried to ice the game with 2:40 left by going for it on 4th-and-2 from the B-49. Merrill went off right tackle, but diving Rams end Derrick Shain got a hand on Merrill and tripped him up for no gain.

Three plays later, Rams tailback Justin Libbey gained 39 of his 103 yards on a delayed counter run up the middle on 3rd-and-8 from the G-49. Three more plays later, Bouchard’s cruise-missile was low, but managed to elude the hands of diving Tiger Tom Faunce and sailed through the uprights.

Rams 12, Tigers 10

Bangor (7-1) 0 0 7 5 – 12

Gardiner (1-6) 0 7 3 0 – 10

G – Curry 65 interception return (Munzing kick)

G – Munzing 22 field goal

B – Baird 83 kickoff return (Bouchard kick)

B – Safety, Gardiner recovered fumble in own end zone

B – Bouchard 23 field goal

Bangor Gardiner

First downs 11 7 Rushing att. – yds 44-197 39-136 Passing cmp. – att. 4-15 2-7 Yards passing 61 23 Total yards 258 159 Intercepted by 2 1 Punts – avg. 4-33.7 3-34.6 Fumbles – lost 2-0 3-1 Penalties – yds 2-10 2-21

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Bangor: Libbey 25-103, Bouchard 13-101, Vanidestine 3-0, Johnson 3-(-7); Gardiner: Merrill 15-81, Burke 17-48, Barnes 2-7, Gero 2-6, Stebbins 3-(-6)

PASSING – Bangor: Vanidestine 4-15-1-61; Gardiner: Stebbins 2-7-2-23

RECEIVING – Bangor: Baird 3-69, Bradford 1-(-8); Gardiner: McArthur 1-14, Tessari 1-9