BANGOR – As Ralph Mims talked to reporters beneath the bleachers at Cameron Stadium, his coach sat quietly outside, savoring Brunswick’s 14-12 victory over Bangor in the Pine Tree Conference Class A football final Friday night.

For Dick Leavitt, this was one more satisfying evening in an autumn of renewal for a program that had lived life in or near the PTC cellar in recent years.

“It’s impossible to put into words,” Leavitt said. “The last four years we were 4-28. I’m real emotional right now.”

Mims, the Division I basketball prospect who joined the football team as a senior, had no such problems with words.

“To be 10-1 and to win this game means so much,” said Mims, who scored what proved to be the game-winning points by rushing for a two-point conversion to gave Brunswick a 14-6 lead midway through the third quarter.

“When we lost the first game of the year, people expected us to have same type of team that we had in the past. But to have a big turnaround like this, I’m just really happy for my coach right now, because he’s been here through the highs and through the lows.”

The win sends Brunswick to next Saturday’s state Class A final in Portland against the winner of today’s Western A title game between Biddeford and Deering of Portland.

Bangor finishes with a 9-2 record.

“I thought we played very well,” said Bangor coach Mark Hackett, whose team outgained Brunswick 202-197 in total yardage. “We didn’t shut them down, but they didn’t shut us down either. I thought it was a pretty even game, but they were a little better than us today, so hats off to them.”

This contest featured two of the top running backs in the state, and while both Mike Prentiss of Bangor and Phil Warren got their yards, they came with considerable difficulty.

Prentiss rushed for 120 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries, and finished his senior season with 2,023 yards.

“He’s a tremendous player, we just tried to clog the line of scrimmage,” said Leavitt. “We knew their other weapon was the pass, but it was awful difficult to do that with the wind the way it was.”

Warren, Brunswick’s 240-pound fullback, had 134 yards on 24 carries, including scoring runs of 26 and 6 yards, while tailback Devin Shepard added 35 yards on 10 tries.

“They force you to play honest,” said Hackett. “They had Mims who can get outside and Warren up the middle. We had to play Warren with just our inside guys and obviously he got some yards and some big first downs, but I was pretty proud. He didn’t run all over us. They got two scores, and we didn’t get the third score we needed.”

Bangor struck for a 6-0 lead on its first possession, as Prentiss scored on a 3-yard run to cap a 37-yard drive after a 15-yard punt into the wind by Brunswick’s Derek Paquet. Prentiss set up the score with a 21-yard run to the Brunswick 7, but it would be his longest run of the night.

“We needed to keep Prentiss from getting outside, and make him cut back into our big men like Arron Chaffin and Andy Williamson,” Warren said. “We couldn’t let him get outside because he has great speed, but if we kept him inside he couldn’t run over us because he wasn’t big enough.”

Brunswick threatened early in the second quarter after Prentiss muffed a punt and the Dragons recovered at the Rams 28. Brunswick gained a first-and-goal at the 2, but Bangor’s defense stuffed four straight rushing attempts, including a big fourth down by Mims around right end that concluded out of bounds just before the goal line.

While the Dragons were stymied, the field position eventually paid off.

Bangor was soon forced to punt into the wind, and Brunswick regained possession at the Rams’ 36. Three plays later, Warren went around right end 26 yards to the end zone to forge a 6-6 tie with 4:43 left in the half.

Brunswick scored the go-ahead touchdown midway through the third quarter, a score set up when Shepard intercepted a pass that deflected off the fingers of Bangor wide receiver Matt Cassidy and returned it 20 yards to the Rams’ 11.

Warren scored from 6 yards out one play later, and Mims then added the two-point conversion to give Brunswick a 14-6 lead with 5:45 left in the period.

Bangor drove 73 yards for its second touchdown midway through the final period. Senior quarterback Shaun Sullivan (5 of 8, 80 yards) found tight end P.J. Dowe behind the Brunswick defense for a 58-yard pass completion to the Brunswick 12. Prentiss gained 2 yards on fourth-and-1 to give the Rams first-and-goal at the 1, and Brunswick stuffed Prentiss three times for no gain before the Bangor standout went off tackle to score with 5:47 left.

Bangor could get no closer than 14-12, however, as Prentiss mishandled a pitch on the two-point conversion try.

The Rams attempted an onsides kick, but Brunswick’s Michael Martinez recovered and the Dragons ran out all but the final 44 seconds of the game.

DRAGONS 14, RAMS 12

Brunswick (10-1) 0 6 8 0 ? 14

Bangor (9-2) 6 0 0 6 ? 12

BANG ? Prentiss 3 run (kick failed)

BRUN ? Warren 26 run (kick failed)

BRUN ? Warren 6 run (Mims rush)

BANG ? Prentiss 1 run (rush failed)

Brunswick Bangor

First downs 10 7

Rushing att.-yards 45-178 39-122

Passing comp.-att. 2-6 5-8

Passing yards 19 80

Total yards 197 202

Punts-avg. 3-33.0 4-24.0

Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1

Intercepted by 1 0

Penalties-yards 4-17 2-10

Rushing

Brunswick: Warren 24-134, Shepard 10-35, Clark 2-12, Mims 9-(-3); Bangor: Prentiss 30-120, Gallant 2-10, N. Payson 5-4, Heber 1-(-6), Sullivan 1-(-6)

Passing

Brunswick: Mims 2-5-0-19, Clark 0-1-0-0; Bangor: Sullivan 5-8-1-80

Receiving

Brunswick: Maese 1-13, Phillips 1-6; Bangor: Dowe 2-72, Cassidy 1-6, Prentiss 1-3, DeRosa 1-(-1)

A?2,500 (est.)