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FAIRFIELD – It might have been safe to assume that the Bangor football team’s practices were a bit tough in the past couple of days following last weekend’s loss to Skowhegan.
Not so, Rams head coach Mark Hackett said Friday night. It was just a matter of getting back some confidence and pride.
“It was the same as every other week. We just had to put behind us the question of, are we really not as good as we can be. That’s hard for young men,” Hackett said. “We have confidence in them but it’s a tough sport.”
The Rams rebounded from last weekend, sparked by Nick Payson’s three touchdown runs and 165 yards of offense, for a 24-14 win over Lawrence here at Keyes Field.
“We really just wanted to get back on top again,” said Bangor’s Aaron Gallant, who had two interceptions and had a key carry during a drive in the fourth quarter. “We wanted the offensive and defensive lines fired up. They carried us tonight.”
Bangor, now 4-1, looked like it was in some trouble in the second half as Lawrence (1-4) cut into the Rams’ 17-6 halftime lead with a Craig Young 5-yard touchdown run and then a Young rush for a two-point conversion.
Bangor couldn’t get anything going on its drive after Young’s score, and then the Rams helped the Bulldogs with 45 yards in penalties. Lawrence got down to Bangor’s 17-yard line.
But the Rams settled down, knocked the Bulldogs back to the 18, and then watched as Lawrence missed a 35-yard field-goal attempt.
“That was really a character-builder for us tonight, helped us stay strong,” Gallant said of bouncing back from the penalties.
The Rams were forced to punt on the drive after the missed field goal, but the Bulldogs fumbled the return and Bangor recovered the ball at the Lawrence 25.
On the first play from scrimmage, Payson took a pitch from quarterback Brian Hackett and ran 25 yards for a touchdown. Tyson Barron’s third extra-point kick of the night was good, and the Rams stretched the lead to 10 points.
“We were just working our pitch tonight because we figured we could get outside and get some big runs,” Payson said. “It gave us a boost. We knew we were up two scores so we knew if we made an error on defense we had some insurance on offense.”
Lawrence moved the ball well on its next drive, but Gallant picked off his second pass of the night at Bangor’s 35-yard line. The Rams ran the ball from there, racking up five first downs to keep the drive going until the end of the game. Gallant had one of those conversions, a 2-yard run on fourth-and-2 that originated as a fake punt. Lawrence had the ball for about three minutes in the fourth quarter.
“They took advantage of the things we were giving them,” Lawrence coach Scott Walker said. “For us to stop interior plays we had to pack it in a little bit and when we did that they went outside. … I think our kids played very hard and our kids played hard as well.”
Bangor looked its best in the second half. The Rams struggled early, unable to take advantage of a Payson’s return on the opening kickoff that got the Rams to the Lawrence 14. Bangor tried to fake a field goal but Barron didn’t pick up enough yardage for a first down.
Barron did make a 27-yarder on a drive that started with a bad Lawrence snap on a punt that put the Rams at the Bulldog 19.
Lawrence took a 6-3 lead in the first quarter when Dylan Costigan threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Richard Flynn on a halfback option play. Payson ran for a 5-yard touchdown in the second quarter for a 10-6 Bangor edge.
Quarterback Nick Champagne led the Bulldogs with 69 yards on 14 carries, while Young added 44 yards on 17 carries.
RAMS 24, BULLDOGS 14
Bangor (4-1) 3 14 0 7 – 24
Lawrence (1-4) 6 0 8 0 – 14
B – Barron 27 field goal
L – Flynn 19 pass from Costigan (pass failed)
B – Payson 5 run (Barron kick)
B – Payson 3 run (Barron kick)
L – Young 5 run (Young rush)
B – Payson 25 run (Barron kick)
Bangor Lawrence
First downs 17 14
Rushing att.-yards 54-237 39-162
Passing comp.-att. 3-6 2-6
Passing yards 40 27
Total yards 277 189
Punts-avg. 2-37 1-38
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1
Intercepted by 2 0
Penalties-yards 6-80 3-25
Rushing
Bangor: Payson 30-165, Patrick 10-39, Dexter 8-19, Vanidestine 4-13, Aa. Gallant 2-1; Lawrence: Champagne 14-69, Young 17-44, Ashland 4-39, Costigan 3-12, Parker 1-(minus 2)
Passing
Bangor: Hackett 3-6-0-40; Lawrence: Costigan 1-1-0-19, Champagne 1-5-2-8
Receiving
Bangor: Vanidestine 1-23, DeRosa 2-17; Lawrence: Flynn 1-19, Young 1-8
A-700 (est.)
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