AUGUSTA – Unlike most of his football teammates at Boothbay High, Billy Hardwick had persevered through the tough times of big-game situations before.

A key member of the school’s reigning state championship basketball team, he had seen that team fall behind with title aspirations on the line only to rally and claim the gold ball.

So when Boothbay fell behind Bucksport in the opening minutes of Saturday’s state Class C football final and then fumbled on two of its first four possessions, Hardwick wasn’t worried.

Well, not exactly.

“At first, we were really worried,” said Hardwick, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound tight end. “But having that experience allows us to keep our composure a lot better. Some of us knew what it’s like to be in rough situations and rebound. And once we finally did score, we knew we could play the game the way we wanted and get it in the end zone.”

Once they stopped beating themselves, the Seahawks were virtually unstoppable.

Boothbay scored on each of its final five possessions, including all three chances in the second half, to overpower the Eastern Maine champion Golden Bucks 41-21 before 2,000 fans at Alumni Field.

The Seahawks rushed for 368 yards from their wing-T set, with Taylor Russell, Alex Rand and Max Arsenault each surpassing 100 yards on the day.

Sometimes it was misdirection that created openings. Other times an offensive line averaging 240 pounds per man was the catalyst. And Arsenault, the fullback, was willing to apply the finishing touches, scoring four touchdowns on runs of 4, 7, 12 and 2 yards.

“Their offense takes you out of anything you’ve done all year,” said Bucksport coach Joel Sankey. “They’re a ball-control team, and our concern was that they would control the ball and we wouldn’t be able to get our hands on it.”

The victory gave the 10-2 Seahawks their first state championship since sharing the Class D title with Dirigo in 1975.

That the Seahawks emerged from Western Maine – upending No. 2 Lisbon and ending No. 1 Winthrop’s 22-game winning streak – was somewhat startling, given that there were only eight seniors on the 59-man roster and the wing-T is an intricate offense that places an emphasis on precise execution.

“We’re a pretty young team, really, but we played a lot of sophomores and juniors last year,” said Boothbay coach Tim Rice. “To run this offense, we’ve got to be disciplined. There are days, though … hey, we put two on the ground in the first half today and it almost cost us. But a lot of that is because we’re so aggressive with the ball.”

Bucksport, 10-2, drove 54 yards after taking the opening kickoff. Warren Chase (13 rushes, 52 yards) capped off the march with the first of his three touchdowns, an 8-yard run that gave the Bucks a 7-0 lead with 9:43 left in the first quarter.

When Bucksport linebacker Phil Harvey stripped Russell (18 carries, 129 yards) of the ball moments later and teammate John Harvey recovered, the Bucks had possession at the Boothbay 31 with a chance to make a major-league early statement.

The Bucks managed one first down, but quarterback Chris McHale (6 of 11 passing, 136 yards) mishandled a center snap and Russell made up for his earlier miscue with the fumble recovery at the 22 to end the threat.

Boothbay pulled within 7-6 early in the second quarter as Arsenault (15 carries, 102 yards) powered in from the 4, but Bucksport responded almost instantly.

On second down, McHale found Chase open down the left sideline for a 55-yard touchdown pass. After Trevor LaLonde’s second extra-point kick, Bucksport held a 14-6 lead with 10:55 left in the half.

Boothbay threatened on its next possession thanks to a 52-yard run by Rand (17 carries, 123 yards), but a second Russell fumble was recovered by John Harvey at the Bucksport 13.

It was Boothbay’s last mistake.

Arsenault scored on each of the Seahawks’ next two possessions – one capping a drive aided by a key third-and-10 pass interference penalty against Bucksport – to give Boothbay an 18-14 halftime lead.

Then Hardwick added to that run, catching a 40-yard scoring strike from Will Carroll shortly after Boothbay took the second-half kickoff. The Seahawks’ lead suddenly was 26-14.

“I felt like that was a key play,” said Hardwick, “to change the momentum of the game.”

Again, not exactly.

Bucksport, seeking its first state title since 1983, responded with a 16-play, 62-yard drive that chewed nearly eight minutes off the clock before Chase scored from the 1 cut the deficit to 26-21.

But a Bucksport defense that posted six shutouts on the way to the LTC title didn’t have a way to contain Boothbay.

The Seahawks went 68 yards in nine plays to push their lead to 34-21 with 9:34 left as Arsenault scored his final touchdown.

Bucksport then drove to the Boothbay 36 before the drive stalled on downs. The Seahawks added a pad touchdown on a 3-yard quarterback keeper by Carroll with 18.2 seconds left in the game.

“We had a few mistakes in the first half but we redeemed ourselves in the second half,” Russell said. “At halftime we talked to each other and decided that we had to clean it up if we really wanted to win this. We thought we were the team that really wanted it more, so we just cleaned it up.”

BOOTHBAY 41, BUCKSPORT 21

Boothbay 0 18 8 15?41

Bucksport 7 7 7 0?21

BUCK ? Chase 8 run (LaLonde kick)

BOOTH ? Arsenault 4 run (rush failed)

BUCK ? Chase 55 pass from McHale (LaLonde kick)

BOOTH ? Arsenault 7 run (pass failed)

BOOTH ? Arsenault 12 run (pass failed)

BOOTH ? Hardwick 40 pass from Carroll (Russell rush)

BUCK ? Chase 1 run (LaLonde kick)

BOOTH ? Arsenault 2 run (Russell rush)

BOOTH ? Carroll 3 run (Tomacelli rush)

Boothbay Bucksport

First downs 21 15

Rushing att.-yards 53-368 38-151

Passing comp.-att. 2-6 6-11

Passing yards 58 136

Total yards 426 287

Punts-avg. 1-39.0 3-25.7

Fumbles-lost 3-2 1-1

Intercepted by 2 0

Penalties-yards 4-50 2-30

Rushing

Boothbay: Russell 18-129, Rand 17-123, Arsenault 15-102, Carroll 2-9, Norton 1-5; Bucksport: Chase 13-52, Ames 11-44, P. Harvey 6-27, Woodman 6-20, McHale 2-8.

Passing

Boothbay: Carroll 2-6-0-58; Bucksport: McHale 6-11-2-136

Receiving

Boothbay: Hardwick 2-58; Bucksport: Ogden 2-28, Chase 1-55, Sullivan 1-26, Beeson 1-18, Ames 1-9

A?2,000 (est.).