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FARMINGTON – Joe Vanidestine’s passing statistics won’t cause anyone to do a double-take as they look through the scoring summary on Friday night’s Pine Tree Conference showdown between Bangor and Mt. Blue.
He doesn’t care.
What he does care about is helping lead his Rams to a stirring, come-from-behind 21-18 victory over the Cougars in a back-and-forth thriller on a balmy, if not beautiful evening at Caldwell Field.
Vanidestine completed just four of nine passes for 44 yards, but it was his last completion that will be remembered most as the senior quarterback found classmate and tight end Eric Bell in the left corner of the end zone for a game-winning 13-yard touchdown pass with 1:10 left in the game.
“I threw it up there and, you know, he’s a big kid and great athlete, he went up there and got it,” Vanidestine said.
“I just tried to bring it in. He hit me right in the arms,” said a beaming Bell while clutching the game ball. “It was a perfect pass.”
Perfect pass. Perfect setup. Perfect play.
Playbook secrecy being what it is these days, Vanidestine and Bell won’t divulge what the play is called, but weeks from now, the 6-1 Rams may look back and call it the play that cemented first place and home-field advantage in the PTC. Heck, they may even call it the play that jump-started them on a run to the state championship.
“It was a big game for us and we needed a win on the road,” said Rams coach Gabby Price. “You can’t simulate their pass game and we needed a total team effort to win it. It was a hell of a win.”
With almost 51/2minutes left in the game and Bangor trailing 18-14, the Rams were just hoping for a break when the Cougars took over on their own 8-yard line. They got it 20 seconds later as a Mt. Blue receiver slipped and Rams defensive back Chris Bombardier intercepted the pass at the MB-29.
Five straight Joe Cammack runs later, the Rams faced 2nd-and-7 from the MB-14. A Justin Schmersal counter run went for a 1-yard loss and Cammack was then stopped for a 2-yard gain to make it 4th-and-6.
The Rams lined up in a power formation. Vanidestine took the snap and faked a handoff to Cammack on a play-action run up the gut. Meanwhile, Bell was running a flag pattern to the left corner of the end zone. Vanidestine faded back and snapped off a tight rainbow pass in the direction of Bell, who was sandwiched between two defenders. Bell lunged up as the pass hit him in the numbers, clutched the ball for dear life, and fell down for the touchdown. Shawn Bouchard’s PAT kick made it 21-18 with 1:10 to go.
After a direct snap to Mt. Blue back Randy Hutchinson was stopped for no gain, the Cougars called timeout. Then MB quarterback Foster Oakley (13-for-22, 151 yards passing) completed a 17-yard pass to Corey Shaw, who ran out of bounds to stop the clock.
Disaster then struck Mt. Blue as the snap to Oakley was mishandled and the ball was fumbled forward. Bangor defensive tackle Jared Slauenwhite immediately fell on it for his second fumble recovery of the game, allowing the Rams to run the final 37 seconds off the clock and claim victory.
“I saw it pop up and I followed it with my eyes. It bounced around a little and I just jumped on it,” Slauenwhite said. “This was a huge game for us. It’s a big step toward the playoffs and hopefully toward a state championship.”
There were a lot of people who came up big for the Rams. Defensive end Jared Hockman and linebackers Derrick Shain and Pat Knaide led the defensive rush with several tackles for losses and big stops at crucial times.
Cammack, the Rams’ tailback, ran for 126 yards on 28 carries to pace the offense. Bombardier was the special teams star with an 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown immediately after Mt. Blue’s first score as Bangor took a 7-6 lead in the first quarter.
“That’s what killed us tonight was special teams. Between that kickoff return and us missing three extra points, that was all the difference because these kids played their XXXbuttsXXX off tonight,” said coach Gary Parlin, whose 3-3 Cougars will need a lot of help to get in the playoffs.
Hutchinson led the Cougars on the ground with 116 yards and a TD on 19 carries.
Rams 21, Cougars 18
Bangor (6-1) 7 7 0 7 – 21
Mt. Blue (3-3) 6 6 0 6 – 18
MB-Oakley 15 run (kick failed)
B-Bombardier 80 kickoff return (Bouchard kick)
MB-Ra. Hutchinson 1 run (rush failed)
B-Quirk 20 run (Bouchard kick)
MB-Parlin 16 pass from Oakley (pass failed)
B-Bell 13 pass from Vanidestine (Bouchard kick)
Bangor Mt. Blue
First downs 12 15 Rushing att. – yds 42-157 35-164 Passing cmp. – att. 4-10 13-22 Yards passing 44 151 Total yards 201 315 Intercepted by 1 0 Punts – avg. 4-29.8 3-30.3 Fumbles – lost 1-1 4-2 Penalties – yds 6-45 6-54
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Bangor: Cammack 28-126, Quirk 2-24, Bouchard 3-11, Schmersal 6-6, Vanidestine 3- (-10); Mt. Blue: Ra. Hutchinson 19-116, Oakley 8-31, Childs 6-12, Shaw 1-1
PASSING – Bangor: Vanidestine 4-9-0-44, Bombardier 0-1-0-0; Mt. Blue: Oakley 13-22-1-151
RECEIVING – Bangor: Shain 1-14, Bell 1-13, Quirk 1-9, Bouchard 1-8; Mt. Blue: Parlin 6-85, Shaw 3-46, Nile 2-25, Karlson 1-0, Childs 1- (-5)
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