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BIDDEFORD – All week long, the play was a running play. A naked bootleg designed to take advantage of West quarterback Trevor Powers’ speed.
Midway through the third quarter of Friday night’s 13th annual Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl Classic, that’s not exactly the way things turned out.
As a pair of defensive backs bore down on Powers and took that running play away, he calmly stopped, delivered the ball … and absorbed the hit he knew was coming.
Tight end Eric Ouellette did the rest, lumbering to the East 1-yard line and setting up the lone touchdown in the West’s 13-0 victory at Waterhouse Field.
“It was actually supposed to be a run play and Trevor was looking downfield,” Biddeford’s Ouellette said with a chuckle. “He broke a few tackles, and I was wide open. There was nothing I could do other than catch it. He put it right in my hands.”
Powers said that as he got closer to the sideline, he became aware that the play wasn’t going to pick up much yardage … so he changed his mind.
“I was looking for the corner and was following my one lead blocker. I saw Eric dragging across and I knew it was just time for the end zone,” Powers said.
As it turned out, Ouellette just missed out on the end zone: He dove for the cone but was knocked out of bounds by defensive end Arley Mosher of Gardiner inside the 1.
But Mike Bennett barged in for the touchdown on the next play, Nolan Patten of York added the extra point – and his second field goal of the night early in the fourth. The victory was the West squad’s 12th in 13 meetings.
Bangor’s Buddy Nickerson received an award as the most inspirational player at halftime of the game. Edward Little’s Tom Hunter was the East MVP, while Patten was the West’s MVP.
The game may have been billed as an all-star exhibition, but the intensity on the field matched that you’d find on any football Friday in October.
Just ask Warren Chase.
Chase, who graduated from Bucksport High School in June, was a leader on the East defense, buzzing around Waterhouse Field from his free safety post, looking for trouble.
He found plenty, including a pair of the hardest hits of the night – one on a punt return and one on a pass play from Lee St. Hillaire to Josh Doughty. Chase said he and the East squad didn’t view the game as an exhibition.
“You just can’t think. You’ve got to leave it all on the field, and go out there and smack some heads,” Chase said. “That’s all I had in my mind: To go out there and make some plays.”
The West got on the board first – after more than 21 minutes of hard-hitting, defense-dominated football – when Patten capped the day’s first sustained drive with a 22-yard field goal.
The West chewed up 48 yards on the drive and kept the charge alive by successfully executing a nifty fake punt on a fourth-and-5 from the East 43.
That play – an 11-yard swing pass from Powers to Winthrop speedster Clyde Moody – took the ball to the E-32, and Doughty and Powers added rushes of 9 and 14 yards to get the ball within reach for Patten.
The West squad enjoyed a 304-170 yardage advantage over the East and earned 15 first downs to the East’s nine.
The West was led by Winthrop’s St. Hillaire, who completed 6 of 14 passes for 90 yards, and Doughty, who rushed for 67 yards on 14 carries.
The East’s received 30 rushing yards from Hunter (on 11 carries). Quarterback B.J. Dunlap of Skowhegan completed 7 of 17 passes for 74 yards.
Bangor’s Nickerson (6 carries, 14 yards) said the West seemed to win the battle in the trenches, and the East couldn’t overcome that.
“They had a big defensive line. I think our O-line struggled with that,” Nickerson said. “[We] went off the ball as fast as they could, they were hitting people. But their defensive line dominated our offensive line a little more on the ball than we were hoping.”
WEST 13, EAST 0
East 0 0 0 0? 0
West 0 3 7 3?13
W ? Patten 22 FG
W ? Bennett 1 run (Patten kick)
W ? Patten 30 FG
East West
First downs 8 15
Rushing att.-yards 34-67 54-172
Passing comp.-att. 9-22 9-19
Passing yards 103 132
Total yards 170 304
Punts-avg. 8-30.2 6-31.6
Fumbles-lost 6-2 1-1
Intercepted by 0 1
Penalties-yards 8-80 7-65
Rushing
East: Nickerson 6-14, Horne 1-2, Langlais 8-0, Hunter 11-30, Waite 3-3, Sokoloski 1-1, Dunlap 4-17; West: Bennett 11-15, Doughty 14-67, St. Hillaire 8-8, Powers 6-28, Lever 2-2, Moody 3-8, Price 7-27, Boucher 3-17
Passing
East: Langlais 2-5-0-29, Dunlap 7-17-1-74; West: St. Hillaire 7-14-0-90, Powers 2-5-0-42
Receiving
East: Parlin 2-27, Cote 1-21, Hunter 3-6, McGowen 1-23, Hapworth 1-12, Waite 1-14; West: Ballantyne 3-45, Moody 2-8, Jin 2-40, Ouellette 1-31, Doughty 1-10
A?6,000 (est.)
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