With the University of Maine clinging to a four-point lead in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Atlantic 10 football game at Northeastern, the team needed a spark.

Arel Gordon was more than willing to oblige.

The Black Bears’ fleet wide receiver peeled off four determined runs from scrimmage and caught a short pass to help UMaine move the ball and chew up valuable time off the clock to help secure a 14-10 victory.

Gordon, a junior from Rochester, N.Y., has become the featured offensive weapon since UMaine scrapped its traditional I-based formation to a more wide-open, pass-oriented scheme with a single running back.

“We spread [Northeastern] out more with Arel in the game,” said UMaine coach Jack Cosgrove.

“He’s fast; he’s tough; he’s physical; he’s smart,” Cosgrove added.

Gordon finished Saturday’s game with 11 receptions for 90 yards and ran the ball 11 times for 46 yards. He has 23 receptions in the last three games.

His efforts were characterized by tremendous toughness and second effort, despite giving away 20-plus pounds to most of the Huskies’ tacklers. Gordon’s determination seemed to rub off on his teammates.

“I think I can speak for everybody on both sides of the field that he’s probably one of the toughest kids I’ve seen in my entire life,” said UMaine quarterback Ron Whitcomb.

“He’s taking out defenders as they’re trying to tackle him,” he added. “What he does in the run game and in the pass game; he’s been winning these games singlehandedly.”

At 5-foot-10, 175 pounds, Gordon is much more suited to be a finesse player. Even so, he hasn’t shied away from taking hits, or even handing them out, when he’s running with the ball.

“The whole sport of football is about emotion, so playing guts out, basically everything I’ve got, I know the guys see that and they do the same for me,” said Gordon, who has emerged as the Bears’ top receiver with 48 catches for 350 yards.

“I feel that with my ability to make one more guy miss and maybe get one extra yard everybody can say, ‘he’s trying, I’m going to try, you’ve got to try, let’s all try;’ let’s all get together and finish this off the right way,” Gordon said.

Gordon is UMaine’s No. 2 rusher behind senior tailback Montell Owens. He has picked up 132 yards on 28 carries (4.7 yards per carry), with 25 of those attempts coming in the last three games.

While UMaine’s offensive plans for the future aren’t clear, it is obvious Gordon will be a key piece of the puzzle.

“It will be interesting to see if he can hold up for 11 games,” said Northeastern coach Rocky Hager.

Taking one for the team

It has been a frustrating senior season for UMaine tight end Josh Radulski.

With the Bears trying to rebuild their offensive line, Radulski had been relegated mostly to blocking duty to shore up the front six. He then suffered a broken bone in his left hand that caused him to miss three games.

When Radulski got the cast off and returned to the lineup Saturday, he lined up wearing the No. 70 jersey instead of his usual No. 80. He had been moved to offensive tackle.

“I felt kind of funny out there. It’s a different world on the offensive line,” said the 6-foot-41/2, 250-pounder from Newark, Del. “I think I got better as the game went on.”

The Bears have struggled all season, because of inexperience and injuries, to develop a cohesive group up front.

“We’ve been challenged tremendously over the course of the year,” Cosgrove said. “We’ve lost some big-skill players and we’re doing some things on offense now that aren’t ‘pound the rock’ [the offensive motto].”

Radulski’s experience playing up front and his size and strength made him a viable option.

“I wanted to play tight end, obviously, but it was for the better of the team,” Radulski said of the switch. “They thought it would help us out and give Ronnie [Whitcomb] more time and open up some more holes for the running backs, so it was kind of a no-brainer.”