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SKOWHEGAN – Two weeks ago, the Skowhegan Indians were an 0-2 football team with limited varsity experience trying to learn a new system under a new coach.
After Friday night’s 44-8 thrashing of Bangor, the Indians are still young, but confidence is growing and a comfort level is emerging with the new double-wing offense.
“We were slow coming out of the gate, inexperienced with no returning starters,” said Mike Marston, a veteran of the central Maine coaching fraternity but in his first year as the Indians’ head man. “But we sold the kids on working hard, sticking together and being a real team, and now it’s starting to pay off.”
Boy, is it ever.
Skowhegan (2-2) never threw a pass save for a failed extra-point try, but junior Aaron Chambers and senior Jason Lisherness combined for 397 rushing yards and all six Indians’ touchdowns. Chambers tore through Bangor’s defense for 202 yards and five touchdowns on 29 carries.
“After watching film, we realized Bangor was a lot bigger than us, and we also noticed they stood up a little bit on the line,” said Lisherness, who added 195 yards and a TD on 23 carries. “We tried to take advantage of that and get them low early with our blocks. We just had to find the holes early.
Our line made the blocks, and once we got into the open field we were all set.”
Ball control was one form of defense for the Indians, who ran 21 more plays from scrimmage than Bangor. Aggressive play was another factor, as epitomized by three straight plays turned in by senior defensive end Devin Provenchal late in the first half.
First he sacked Bangor QB Brian Hackett for a 10-yard loss. Then he batted down a Hackett pass. Finally he blocked a T.J. Vanidestine punt that Eric McLeod recovered to give Skowhegan the ball at the Bangor 6 with 1:07 left in the second quarter.
“It was unreal,” Provenchal said. “When I tackled the quarterback with the ball I was psyched about that, and when I batted that ball down it was unbelievable. Then I went in and blocked that punt, I didn’t even know what I was doing. I mean, I knew what I was doing, but it was unreal.”
Chambers scored from 2 yards out on fourth down as time expired, and his two-point conversion run gave the Indians a 28-8 lead.
“We already had the momentum,” Chambers said, “and that pretty much gave us the game.”
Bangor (3-1) finished with 178 yards of offense, just 60 on the ground. Hackett went 6 of 14 passing for 112 yards.
“They beat us in every phase of the game,” said Bangor coach Mark Hackett. “More emotional, tougher, better coached, the whole thing. It was a clean sweep.”
Bangor drove to the Skowhegan 17 on its first possession of the game before a penalty stalled momentum and left Tyson Barron to attempt a 40-yard field goal, which narrowly missed wide right.
Chambers scored on a 57-yard run to give Skowhegan an 8-0 lead, but Bangor countered with a 73-yard TD pass from Hackett to Anthony DeRosa. Hackett passed to Aaron Gallant for the game-tying conversion with 3:38 left in the period.
A 1-yard Chambers run gave the Indians a 14-8 lead, and after an interception by Lisherness the Indians drove 48 yards, with Lisherness scoring from 13 yards out to extend the margin to 20-8 with 2:25 left in the half.
Bangor’s last best chance at a comeback came on its first series of the second half, when the Rams drove to the Skowhegan 29 before Nick Payson (14 carries, 40 yards) was held to no gain on fourth down.
Chambers scored from 2 and 9 yards out on Skowhegan’s next two possessions.
INDIANS 44, RAMS 8
Bangor (3-1) 8 0 0 0 ? 8
Skowhegan (2-2) 8 20 8 8 ? 44
S ? Chambers 57 run (Chambers rush)
B ? DeRosa 73 pass from B. Hackett (Aar. Gallant pass from B. Hackett)
S ? Chambers 1 run (pass failed)
S ? Lisherness 13 run (rush failed)
S ? Chambers 2 run (Chambers rush)
S ? Chambers 2 run (Lisherness rush)
S ? Chambers 9 run (Jenness rush)
Bangor Skowhegan
First downs 6 15
Rushing att.-yards 24-66 59-415
Passing comp.-att. 6-14 0-0
Passing yards 112 0
Total yards 178 415
Punts-avg. 5-27.6 3-32.6
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-0
Intercepted by 0 1
Penalties-yards 3-15 3-26
Rushing
Bangor: Payson 14-40, Aar. Gallant 9-36, B. Hackett 1-(minus 10); Skowhegan: Chambers 29-202, Lisherness 23-195, Bomiul 3-10, Jenness 2-8, LaCasse 2-0
Passing
Bangor: B. Hackett 6-14-1-112; Skowhegan: LaCasse 0-0-0-0
Receiving
Bangor: DeRosa 3-87, Vanidestine 2-19, Crews 1-6; Skowhegan: none
A?950 (est.)
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