Rams rally in 2nd half, edge No. 4 Brunswick Bangor advances, to face Gardiner in semifinal

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BRUNSWICK – The Bangor Rams knew Friday night’s Pine Tree Conference Class A football quarterfinal against Brunswick might be won by the team that best minimized its mistakes.

It was an accurate assessment.

Bangor rallied from a 7-0 halftime deficit in dramatic fashion, using a safety and the return of a free kick for a touchdown to take the lead and then holding on with mistake-free play down the stretch to earn a 16-13 victory.

The win advances No. 5 Bangor (8-1) to next weekend’s semifinals at No. 1 Gardiner, a winner against No. 8 Oxford Hills of South Paris. No. 4 Brunswick, which defeated Bangor in last year’s Eastern A final, finishes with a 6-3 record.

Junior tailback Nick Payson paced the Rams with two touchdowns and 139 rushing yards, 131 in the second half after Bangor noticed an opening in the Brunswick defense at intermission.

“One of our coaches in the booth [freshman coach Bob Clukey] saw something, and we switched our blocking assignments and that opened up some big seams to run through,” said Payson.

“All season we’ve been working on staying low and that really paid off this week,” added senior lineman Kyle Oliver. “We came up too high sometimes, but they were high a lot more often than we were, so we were just firing out and believing.

“That was a big word for us this week, believing.”

Payson first scored on an 18-yard run with 7:37 left in the third quarter, three plays after the Rams’ Oliver recovered a fumble by Brunswick’s Adam Aube (18 carries, 87 yards, 2TDs).

Bangor took control later in the period after another Brunswick mistake, a high snap on a fourth-down punt that Dragons’ punter Darren Gauthier picked up near the goal line and kicked out of his own end zone for a safety and a 9-7 Bangor lead rather than risk putting the Rams in position to score a touchdown.

But Brunswick then had to kick the ball to the Rams, and Payson gathered it at the Bangor 40 and raced 60 yards to the end zone -despite the fact Bangor had only 10 players on the field for the play.

Bangor suddenly had a 16-7 lead with 3:05 left in the third period.

“We knew they were going to be deep in their zone when they kicked so we knew either way we would get good field position,” Payson said. “We only had 10 guys on the field, so that was pretty interesting, but I just saw a seam and I went for it.”

Brunswick responded with the game’s longest drive, a 67-yard march capped off by Aube’s 5-yard scoring run with 10:37 left in the game. But Gauthier missed the extra-point kick, and Bangor maintained a 16-13 edge.

Brunswick never threatened again, in part due to a 34-yard punt by Bangor’s T.J. Vanidestine that long snapper Brian Hackett – the Rams’ starting quarterback – downed at the Brunswick 3.

Bangor made the game’s first mistake when punt returner Tom Crew was stripped of the ball by Brunswick’s Tom Prunick and Nick Sabasteanski recovered for the Dragons at the Bangor 29.

Aube scored from 1 yard out six plays later to give the Dragons a 7-0 lead with 10:22 left in the first half.

RAMS 16, DRAGONS 13

Bangor (8-1) 0 0 16 0 – 16

Brunswick (6-3) 0 7 0 6 – 13

Brun – Aube 1 run (Gauthier kick)

Bang – Payson 18 run (Barron kick)

Bang – Safety, Gauthier kicks punt out of end zone

Bang – Payson 65 kickoff return (Barron kick)

Brun – Aube 5 run (kick failed)

Bangor Brunswick

First downs 10 13

Rushing att.-yards 38-157 40-149

Passing comp.-att. 7-11 8-18

Passing yards 69 76

Total yards 226 225

Punts-avg. 5-31 5-34

Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-1

Intercepted by 1 0

Penalties-yards 3-33 5-33

Rushing

Bangor: Payson 26-139, B. Hackett 7-13, Dexter 4-9, Vanidestine 1-(-4); Brunswick: Aube 18-87, Martinez 10-39, Rosette 4-14, Clark 8-9

Passing

Bangor: B. Hackett 7-11-0-169; Brunswick: Clark 8-16-1-76, Martinez 0-2-0-0

Receiving

Bangor: Vanidestine 3-32, Aaron Gallant 2-20, B. Hackett 1-8, DeRosa 1-9; Brunswick: Martinez 3-22, Sculley 3-34, Masse 2-20

A- 900 (est.)