GARDINER – The Bangor High football team will have another home game after all.

Nick Payson rushed for 276 yards and five touchdowns on 39 carries Friday night as the No. 5 Rams whipped top-seeded Gardiner 39-14 in a Pine Tree Conference Class A semifinal at Hoch Field.

That, combined with No. 7 Skowhegan’s 20-0 upset of No. 3 Mt. Blue at Farmington, means Bangor will host the Indians in the Eastern Maine championship game next weekend.

“I like it,” said Bangor senior T.J. Vanidestine, who like his teammates thought the 9-1 Rams would host a first-round game a week earlier only to be sent on the road by the magic of the Crabtree point ratings. “I was kind of bummed that we didn’t have a home game before, but I think this will make the fans happy.”

Skowhegan (5-5) and like Bangor the winner of two straight road playoff games, handed the Rams their only loss, a 44-8 drubbing in Week 4.

“These guys are on a mission,” said Bangor coach Mark Hackett. “I’m glad to get a chance to play at home next week and I’m glad they get a chance to redeem themselves against a team that really did something they don’t like having done to them. They pounded us up and down the field, so we’ve got something to prove.”

Bangor pounded Gardiner up and down the field, particularly in the second half when the Rams outscored the Tigers 20-0.

They did it with ball control – rushing 63 times for 406 yards overall – and with a defense that limited Gardiner to 109 rushing yards, forced three turnovers and pressured freshman quarterback Kyle Stilphen into a 5-of-16 passing evening.

“The only thing you need to say is the better team won,” said Gardiner coach Matt Brown, whose team finished 8-2. “We threw four or five defensive fronts at them and they just kept blocking our kids. It didn’t matter what we did.”

Payson scored from 19 yards out on Bangor’s first possession after teammate Eric Anderson recovered a fumble by Gardiner’s Craig Toulouse on the game’s first play from scrimmage.

That was the first of 10 runs of at least 10 yards for Payson, a junior who began the year splitting the tailback duties but has emerged to gain 1,380 yards.

“Somewhere between August and and now Nick Payson turned into a man,” Brown said. “He’s running very well. He’s quite a football player and they’re a class act.”

Payson benefited from superior blocking from all his offensive mates – linemen Kyle Oliver, Andrew Trundy, Andy Gould, Anderson and Jeremy Tyler, tight end Aaron Gallant, fullback Ricky Dexter, Vanidestine at wingback and wideout Anthony DeRosa.

“The line played great this week,” said Payson. “We had a good week of practice, and they were able to make some holes so we had some big runs outside. T.J. and DeRosa and Dexter were making some big blocks outside, slowing p guys for a second so I could run around them.”

Payson went wide left to score from 32 yards out to cap a 78-yard march that gave Bangor a 13-0 lead, but Gardiner countered with a 53-yard march to score on Tom Colby’s 3-yard run with 2:06 left in the opening quarter and pull within 13-7.

A 13-yard sack of Stilphen by Nick Buchanan set up a 65-yard Bangor drive in the second quarter, with Payson scoring from 4 yards out to stretch the lead to 19-7. But Gardiner capitalized on two pass interference penalties to draw within 19-14 by intermission as Stilphen hit 6-foot-7 wideout Sean McNally with a 10-yard TD pass with 6.8 seconds left.

But what seemed like momentum for Gardiner evaporated quickly, as the Tigers managed just three first downs after the break Bangor drove 61 yards after taking the second-half kickoff, with Payson scoring from 1 yard out with 9:18 left in the third quarter to extend the Rams’ lead to 26-14.

One possession later, Bangor ran 5 minutes off the clock with an 80-yard march that featured runs of 20, 11 and 16 yards by Payson before he scored from 3 yards out on the opening play of the fourth quarter.

Senior quarterback Brian Hackett added Bangor’s final TD on a 1-yard sneak after Gallant ran a fake punt 37 yards to the Gardiner 4.

RAMS 39, TIGERS 14

Bangor (9-1) 13 6 7 13 – 39

Gardiner (8-2) 7 7 0 0 – 14

B – Payson 19 run (Barron kick)

B – Payson 32 run (kick failed)

G – Colby 3 run (Stilphen kick)

B – Payson 4 run (pass failed)

G – McNally 10 pass from Stilphen (Stilphen kick)

B – Payson 1 run (Barron kick)

B – Payson 3 run (kick failed)

B – B. Hackett 1 run (Barron kick)

Bangor Gardiner

First downs 20 12

Rushing att.-yards 63-406 34-109

Passing comp.-att. 1-4 5-16

Passing yards 7 83

Total yards 413 192

Punts-avg. 3-18.3 5-34.2

Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-2

Intercepted by 1 1

Penalties-yards 4-42 7-62

Rushing

Bangor: Payson 39-276, Aa. Gallant 1-37, Vanidestine 7-33, Dexter 4-23, Ingraham 4-14, B. Hackett 5-13, Eremita 1-5, Al. Gallant 1-5, Paulette 1-0; Gardiner: Colby 13-59, Toulouse 11-35, Ramsay 4-12, Stilphen 6-3

Passing

Bangor: B. Hackett 1-4-1-7; Gardiner: Stilphen 5-16-1-83

Receiving

Bangor: Vanidestine 1-7; Gardiner: Toulouse 2-35, Holman 1-29, McNalley 1-10, Ramsay 1-9

A-1,143 (est.)