LINCOLN – Friday’s LTC Class C semifinal football playoff game between top seed Mattanawcook Academy and No. 4 seed Bucksport involved more than 100 plays.

It’s rare when you can say a game like that came down to one play, but this one was a no-brainer.

Looking weary, worried and wobbly, the Lynx had no momentum, very little energy, and hardly any noise or backing from a listless, hushed crowd at Curry Memorial Field as the game hit the midway point of the third quarter.

Bucksport was leading 6-0 and threatening to score again, but had to convert a 4th-and-one from the MA 31-yard line. Lining up to punt, the Golden Bucks went with a fake, but senior linebacker Jason Murchison led a trio of tacklers and stuffed Matt Gray for a 2-yard loss.

The play not only stoked the competitive fire inside Murchison, it lit a fire under his teammates and awakened a partisan Lynx crowd that had been waiting for a chance to erupt all game long. The short-term result was an eight-play touchdown drive that tied the game and the long-term result was a 12-6 victory for the Lynx.

“That was definitely the turning point. Everybody had confidence after that,” said Murchison, who showed why he’s one of the team’s four captains by switching from fullback to tailback for an injured Duncan Markie and responding with a 13-yard gain on first down, a 6-yard run on the next play, and a 9-yard gain the next.

“Jason’s our bowling ball. He gets things rolling,” said quarterback Dylan Hanscom, another senior captain. “He made one hit on that play and just fired everybody up and the line got fired up after that and they were blowing people off the ball. He’s our heart and soul.”

The bowling ball added a 4-yard gain as well before capping the drive with a 20-yard TD run off a busted pass play.

“It was supposed to be a dive pass, but they were overloading on the tight end, so I knew he wasn’t going to be open either way,” Hanscom explained. “I tried to fake to him and then get up the middle.”

It looked like Hanscom was going to be the main ingredient of a sandwich with two Buck defenders bearing down on him from opposing directions, but he somehow avoided the direct hits on both ends and scrambled to the left corner of the end zone with 47 seconds left in the third.

“They hit on both sides of me and then just went down,” Hanscom explained. “I was stumbling out of it and then I saw all that open field on my left side.”

The extra-point kick by Rickey Robinson was a line drive wide left, but opportunity would knock again for MA just eight seconds later, when reserve linebacker Cory Kimball forced a fumble on a Bucks first down carry that was recovered by Isaac Young at the B-26.

Five runs later, Murchison was in the end zone and the Lynx had their first lead. His two-point conversion rush was stopped just short of the end zone.

“He put us on his back and carried us. His play and Dylan’s scramble for a touchdown were the biggest plays of the game for us,” said MA coach Art Greenlaw, who switched to an unbalance offensive line in the second half to throw Bucksport’s defenders a different look.

Bucksport held a proficient MA ground game to just 53 yards on 19 carries in the first half. The Lynx finished with 186 on 44.

“We just played very physical and the two Gray brothers [Matt and Chris] at inside linebacker are as good as anyone and big hitters,” said coach Joel Sankey, whose Bucks finish up 5-5. “Also, coach Richards is one heck of a defensive coordinator.”

Murchison finished with a game-high 114 yards on 21 carries behind the line of center Andrew Zagorianakos, right guard Dan Lifer, left guard Ian Nevells, right tackle Matt Brown, and left tackle Nathan Nevells.

Bucksport tailback Joe Robicheau finished with 101 yards and one touchdown on 13 carries. His 1-yard TD run early in the second quarter capped a 15-play, 86-yard drive.

The battered Lynx (9-1) will host No. 2 Foxcroft Academy, the only team to defeat them this year, next Saturday afternoon.

“That’s not a fourth seed by any stretch of the imagination. They played very well and hit very hard,” said Greenlaw. “We had [captain and two-way tackle Ross] Clapp go down with an ankle injury early, Randy Reed, Darren Smart, and Markie. We’re a M.A.S.H. unit after this game.”

LYNX 12, GOLDEN BUCKS 6

Bucksport (5-5) 0 6 0 0 – 6

Mattanawcook (9-1) 0 0 6 6 – 12

B-Robicheau 1 run (kick failed)

M-Hanscom 20 run (kick failed

M-Murchison 3 run (rush failed)

Bucksport MA

First downs 9 15

Rushing att.-yards 41-155 44-186

Passing comp.-att. 4-10 2-7

Passing yards 34 15

Total yards 189 201

Punts-avg. 3-31.0 5-33.8

Fumbles-lost 3-2 0-0

Intercepted by 1 1

Penalties-yards 5-35 5-35

Rushing

Bucksport: Robicheau 13-101, Findlay 16-36, Allison 6-17, Fish 4-13, Gray 1-(minus-2), Freeman 1-(minus-10); Mattanawcook: Murchison 21-114, Markie 9-20, Hanscom 4-18, Birmingham 3-17, Braley 4-10, Reed 2-5, Gardner 1-2

Passing

Bucksport: Fish 4-10-1-34; Mattanawcook: Hanscom 2-7-1-15

Receiving

Bucksport: Allison 1-20, Freeman 2-20, Robicheau 1-(minus-6); Mattanawcook: Kimball 1-10, Gardner 1-5

A-500