BANGOR – It was all the 1,500 fans assembled on an unseasonably humid and warm Saturday afternoon at Husson College’s Winkin Sports Complex could ask for … except a victory.

The Husson College Braves gave a loud homecoming crowd plenty of action, excitement and reason to cheer in their first home football game in six decades, but it fell just short of being enough to overcome Mount Ida College’s 1-2 punch of tailback Antwan Harris and quarterback P.J. Matthews.

The Mustangs of Newton Center, Mass., took control midway through the game, but then had to rally with a 61-yard scoring drive in the final 31/2 minutes to edge the Braves 35-28 in a thriller – the second straight for the 2-1 Mustangs.

“Yeah, it’s scary,” said Mount Ida offensive coordinator Ray Butler. “We’re young with a lot of freshmen and we expected a game, but we didn’t think it would be this tight. Hats off to them. They did a great job and we’re lucky to get out of here with a win.”

Butler was acting as interim head coach for Ed Sweeney this week while Sweeney was hospitalized with stomach problems.

“Coach Sweeney is doing a lot better. We saw him Thursday night before we left and was supposed to go home yesterday,” Butler said. “Deep down, yeah, we were worried how the kids would deal with the distractions, but they did a great job of focusing despite having as much adversity as they could have in the last seven days.”

Harris looked like anything but a freshman. The 5-foot-8, 190-pound back followed up a first half in which he rushed for 71 yards with 150 more plus a touchdown in the second. Even he couldn’t believe it.

“I had 221 yards? … Even with the penalties?” asked the wide-eyed Harris.

Yes, even with the 13 penalties for 140 yards that continually threatened to bog down the Mustangs’ offensive stampede.

Harris stepped up at an opportune time with 0-2 Husson’s defense clearly keying on multi-talented sophomore Matthews, who accounted for 540 offensive yards and four touchdowns either on the ground or through the air last week against Maine Maritime Academy.

“He’s a great player,” said Husson defensive end and Lincoln native Tyler Libbey, who recovered two fumbles, had two tackles for a loss, and continually harassed Matthews all game. “We just wanted to bring the ends up and contain him as much as possible to bring him back to the guys in the middle.”

The strategy paid off for much of the game as Harris was held to 59 yards rushing and 121 passing … until the final drive.

After Waterville’s Ryan Lockard capped a four-play, 54-yard drive with a 16-yard touchdown reception from Winthrop’s Lee St. Hilaire and Craig Whitehouse kicked the PAT to make it 28-27 Husson with 3:38 left to play, Matthews went to work.

He completed 4 of 7 passes for 46 yards, the last 20 of which came on a toss to Leigh Putnam in the right flat which the senior wideout took to the end zone with 34 seconds left. Harris then scored on a two-point conversion rush off a toss sweep to the right. The drive was aided by a pass interference penalty on Husson on a 3rd-and-21 play with 1:40 left. Mount Ida converted on one third and one fourth down in the drive.

St. Hilaire tried to rally the Braves in the final 30 seconds, but after an incomplete halfback option pass by Lockard was thrown only a yard too deep, St. Hilaire thew two incompletions before shoveling the ball to Josh Nowlin for a 19-yard run that wasn’t enough.

“I think we definitely made a statement … a big statement,” said St. Hilaire, who thew for a game-high 327 yards despite suffering either a turf toe or broken toe in the third quarter. “I think we’re a lot better than people expected us to be in our first year.”

Winterport’s Jared Hockman and Lincoln’s Tom Lasko each had two sacks for the Braves.

“This was special for our players and our school and our players left their hearts out on the field,” said Braves coach Gabby Price.

MUSTANGS 35, BRAVES 28

Mt. Ida (2-1) 0 14 7 14 ? 35

Husson (0-2) 7 0 6 15 ? 28

H?Spencer 1 run (Whitehouse kick)

MI?Putnam 26 pass from Matthews (Thigpen kick)

MI?Stanford 11 pass from Matthews (Thigpen kick)

MI?Harris 64 run (Thigpen kick)

H?Munzing 4 pass from Chase (kick blocked)

MI?Putnam 10 pass from Matthews (kick failed)

H?Nowlin 5 run (Horne pass from St. Hillaire)

H?Lockard 8 pass from St. Hilaire (Whitehouse kick)

MI?Matthews 20 run (Harris rush)

Mt. Ida Husson

First downs 24 21

Rushing att.-yards 53-298 26-94

Passing comp.-att. 17-25 20-42

Passing yards 163 331

Total yards 461 425

Punts-avg. 6-28.3 4-27.5

Fumbles-lost 2-2 3-1

Intercepted by 2 0

Penalties-yards 13-140 8-70

Rushing

Mt. Ida: Harris 31-221, Matthews 19-74, Racianiello 2-5, Silva 1-(-2); Husson: Spencer 11-58, Nowlin 9-29, Jack 2-6, Evans 1-5, Lockard 3-(-4)

Passing

Mt. Ida: Matthews 16-24-0-163, Silva 0-1-0-0; Husson: St. Hilaire 19-40-2-327, Chase 1-1-0-4, Lockard 0-1-0-0

Receiving

Mt. Ida: Putnam 4-57, Stanford 4-53, Doe 3-23, Racaniello 1-15, Vidot 3-12, Eloi 1-3; Husson: Lockard 5-133, Horne 3-65, Whitehouse 4-53, Nowlin 2-32, Jack 2-16, Poissonnier 1-15, Spencer 2-13, Munzing 1-4

A?1,500 (est.)