Bangor learns its lesson Defense shuts down tricky Cony for win

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AUGUSTA – Friday night’s Pine Tree Conference road game against Cony was already of particular importance for the Bangor Rams.

As tight as the PTC standings are, nobody can afford losses this time of the season, but this game also served as a crucial refresher course for Bangor as it came against a team that plays the same tricky offense as Skowhegan. It also came three weeks after Skowhegan totally flummoxed the Rams’ defense and stunned Bangor by handing the Rams a 36-point loss.

Judging by Bangor’s execution on both sides of the line of scrimmage in Friday’s 14-0 victory over Cony on a warm and misty night at Alumni Field, the visiting Rams passed this course with flying crimson-and-white colors.

“This is good for our confidence and we’re learning how to play against that tough offense,” said head coach Mark Hackett, whose Bangor team improved to 6-1. “We feel a lot better about this result than the last time we ran up against this kind of offense.”

This time around, the visiting Rams did it by dialing back their traditional aggressive attack on defense and playing not so much conservatively as they did responsibly. Each player “stayed at home” and made sure his responsibility and zone of the field was covered at all times.

“You have to play your assignment, and if you get more than a step in the backfield, they’re going to kick you out and run inside,” Hackett said. “We had to keep adjusting, and we learned a lot tonight.”

Offensively, they did it with their trademark ball-control, run-based offense combined with an opportunistic and lethal air attack by quarterback Brian Hackett and receiver Anthony DeRosa.

Bangor’s front five of center Andy Gould, left guard Eric Anderson, left tackle Jeremy Tyler, right guard Kyle Oliver, and right tackle Andrew Trundy paved the way for a 212-yard rushing effort by Bangor’s backfield. Tailback Nick Payson led the way with 93 yards on 26 carries against a smaller but gritty Cony defense.

“Cony’s line was clogging the middle with six guys down in front, but if we had a couple breaks, we’d get some good yards because they didn’t have too many guys in the secondary,” Payson said. “Cony beat Skowhegan earlier in the year and their offense is similar, so this was a big win.”

Hackett picked his spots when going to DeRosa and he did so well as all five of his completions were to the senior split end and four went for 22 yards or more.

“Brian was throwing the ball real well tonight and most of the time, I was in single coverage so it was working really well,” DeRosa said. “Our O-line played real well and our run game opened up the pass.”

Bangor’s first scoring drive covered 74 yards in 15 plays and lasted 10 minutes, 34 seconds. Hackett capped the drive with a 2-yard run up the middle with 3:36 left in the first half. The key play was a 27-yard second-down completion to DeRosa into double coverage on the right sideline off a pump-fake from Hackett to take the Rams to the Cony-14.

“He’s the leading receiver or close to it in the PTC and we put a particular person on him, but he made some plays on him,” said Cony coach Tom Hinds. “He even outmanned us when we had double coverage on him.”

Bangor’s second score came with 7:43 left in the game when T.J. Vanidestine broke off right tackle, cut right, and sprinted 35 yards for a touchdown on third-and-4.

Tyson Barron, who converted both PAT kicks, was 0-for-2 on field goal attempts, but his first was a 46-yard attempt at the end of the first half that fell way short and the second was a 37-yard try that sailed about three yards wide left.

Matt Edwards led the offense for 2-5 Cony with 40 yards on 10 carries. Bangor’s defense didn’t allow a single pass reception as QB Gabe Hinds was 0-for-9.

BANGOR RAMS 14, CONY 0

Bangor 0 7 0 7 – 14

Cony 0 0 0 0 – 0

B – Hackett 2 run (Barron kick)

B – Vanidestine 35 run (Barron kick)

Bangor Cony

First downs 15 6

Rushing att.-yards 51-212 33-110

Passing comp.-att. 5-10 0-9

Passing yards 119 0

Total yards 331 110

Punts-avg. 2-38.0 7-34.1

Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-1

Intercepted by 0 0

Penalties-yards 2-10 3-40

Rushing

Bangor: Payson 26-93, Dexter 10-56, Vanidestine 5-46, Hackett 9-12, Barron 1-5; Cony: Edwards 10-40, Wing 10-38, Chabot 8-25, Pass 1-5, Crochere 2-5, Hinds 2-(minus 3)

Passing

Bangor: Hackett 5-10-0-119; Cony: Hinds 0-9-0-0

Receiving

Bangor: DeRosa 5-119

A-250 (est.)