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BIDDEFORD – He was playing at home, in his final competitive football game.
Phil Bourassa wanted to make something special happen, and given the chance Friday night late in the 15th annual Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl Classic, he did.
The reigning Fitzpatrick Trophy winner from Biddeford High School scored one touchdown, set up another, and rushed for the decisive two-point conversion as the West rallied from a 14-0 deficit to earn a 15-14 victory before 4,200 fans at Waterhouse Field.
“We have a couple of special kids and he’s one of them,” said West coach Greg Stilphen. The win avenges a 55-8 loss to the East last year in this matchup of the state’s best recently graduated high school football players.
The West now leads the series 13-2.
The East had control of the game two plays into the second half, when fullback Phil Warren of Brunswick (16 carries, 197 yards), took a quick handoff from quarterback Josh Withee of Foxcroft Academy and raced 53 yards for a touchdown good for a 14-0 lead.
But the West answered immediately, with Bourassa directing an 11-play, 70-yard drive. Bourassa, who will play basketball at Plymouth State next winter, converted three third-down plays during the drive, the final one a 17-yard scramble to the end zone with 8:32 left in the third quarter.
Warren had a 62-yard TD run called back by a penalty early in the fourth quarter, and when a subsequent East punt snap went awry, the West had one last chance, trailing 14-7 but with the ball at the East 28 with 3:39 left.
Bourassa had little luck to a fourth-and-9 situation, but he floated a pass to the right corner of the goal line that Portland’s David Philbrook caught at the 1 despite being interfered with by an East defender.
Fullback Mike Grimaldi went off tackle into the end zone on the next play, with 1:55 left.
“Philbrook made an amazing catch in the corner,” Bourassa said. “He’s our best athlete and just gave us a chance to win. I really couldn’t see him on that play, we just tried to make something out of nothing, and [Deering’s] Joe Marsh made a great block and Philbrook made a great catch.”
Trailing 14-13, the West opted to attempt the two-point conversion. Bourassa rolled left, then reversed field, then reversed field again and used another Marsh block to get into the end zone and give the West their first lead of the night.
“We didn’t come here to play for a tie,” said Stilphen, who coaches at Deering High. “I asked the players. They’ve given up a lot to be here, and in situations like this you ask them what they want to do, and they wanted to go for it.”
The East was unable to mount a final drive of its own, and fell outgaining the West 267-198.
“We had a chance it seemed like every time we got the ball,” said Withee.
“But there were a couple of breaks that didn’t go our way. Those are momentum swings, and they really hurt us tonight.”
“It was kind of frustrating,” added Belfast quarterback Nick Arthers. “But it was such a great week being around all the guys. It was nice to get back out on the field and playing the last game with my dad [East assistant Butch Arthers] as a coach. It’s too bad it had to end with a loss, but I had a great career playing with my dad as a coach. I wouldn’t trade anything for that.”
The East nearly scored on its first offensive play from scrimmage in the game as Bangor’s Mike Prentiss broke through the West defense from the East 49 and went down the right sideline for a 23-yard gain before Lisbon’s John Tefft made a saving tackle at the West 28.
Nick Arthers then scrambled 21 yards for a first down at the 4, but Warren fumbled the ball at the goal line and Tefft recovered.
That turn of events perhaps served to make Warren mad, because when he got another chance to carry the ball two series later, he punished the West defense.
Warren broke loose for a 56-yard gain down the left sideline good for a first down at the West 13. He ran for five yards on the next play before Prentiss took over with four straight carries, one for a first down on fourth-and-1 from the 4, and the last time for the only touchdown of the first half from a yard out with 3:00 left in the opening quarter.
Adam Labbe of Oak Hill of Wales kicked the extra point to give the East a 7-0 lead.
The rest of the half produced defense of all-star proportions, particularly from East linebacker Nate Munzing of Gardiner, who dominated the interior and forced the West outside for any semblance of offense, and high school teammate Kris Ramsay, who intercepted a pass by Bourassa.
By halftime, the East had a 163-60 advantage in total yards, with all the East yardage coming on the ground. Warren had nine carries for 97 yards at the break, while Prentiss had nine carries for 35 yards.
The West, meanwhile, had 20 rushes for 50 yards, while Bourassa and Andrew Schober of Cheverus of Portland combining to complete just 2 of 12 passes for 19 yards.
WEST 15, EAST 14
East 7 0 7 0 ? 14
West 0 0 7 8 ? 15
E ? Prentiss 1 run (Labbe kick)
E ? Warren 55 run (Labbe kick)
W ? Bourassa 17 run (Guillerault kick)
W ? Grimaldi 1 run (Bourassa rush)
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