Lynx topple Bucks MA avenges loss to Bucksport

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BUCKSPORT – The LTC Class C football semifinal between Mattanawcook Academy and Bucksport was a battle won in the trenches, but the win was a costly one for the Lynx of Lincoln as they suffered a big casualty.

The third-seeded Lynx avenged a one-point regular season loss to the No. 2 Golden Bucks and advanced to the Eastern Maine regional title game with a 15-6 victory on a frigid Friday night at Carmichael Field, but they’ll likely do so without senior leader Shey Gardner.

According to MA assistant coach and father Tom Gardner, Shey either dislocated or broke the elbow on his right (throwing) arm while being tackled with 17 seconds left in the first half. Gardner, who had a sack and an interception on defense, left the field on a stretcher and was taken to the hospital via ambulance.

“He’s our quarterback, he’s been a three-year starter on defense for us, and I was very worried we’d have a letdown at halftime after that, but the kids came back and played hard,” said head coach Art Greenlaw, whose 7-3 Lynx will play the winner of Saturday’s John Bapst-Foxcroft Academy game in next weekend’s LTC final.

The Lynx took a 7-0 lead into halftime and with Gardner gone, the wise choice was to continue grinding it out on the ground with a big offensive line of center Matt Brown, guards Nathan Nevells and Ian Nevells, and tackles Dan Lifer and Darren Smart.

“We feel we have some matchup problems for people with our size, so we decided to run the football behind our good people up front and make people make plays to beat us,” Greenlaw said.

Sophomore tailback Brady Vose, who gained 82 yards in the first half, was the primary individual beneficiary of Greenlaw’s strategy.

“I tried to carry the load after Shey got hurt. Our linemen just exploded off the ball,” Vose said. “We came out with an unbalanced line to the right and they weren’t expecting it.”

With 148 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries, Vose accounted for 86 percent of MA’s rushing offense (172 yards).

“We had an isolation on the line, which the linemen call either long or short, and we just ran it right up the middle and pounded it to them,” said Vose.

The Lynx took a 15-0 lead with 3:53 left in the third period after Vose capped an eight-play, 46-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run up the middle.

Brandon Briggs went in for Gardner as the holder for Jeremy Jipson’s extra-point kick attempt, but a bad snap forced him to grab the ball and run with it. Briggs sped right and into the right corner of the end zone for a two-point conversion.

The Bucks answered quickly as Todd Freeman took the handoff on third-and-4 from the Bucks’ 44-yard line, got loose on second effort after being seemingly tackled for a modest gain, and then broke three more tackles en route to a 56-yard TD run with 2:11 left. An unsportsmanlike behavior penalty moved the ball back to the M-18 on the conversion attempt and Bucks quarterback Derek Fish’s pass to the left corner of the end zone was broken up by Derek Libby, who replaced Gardner.

The Bucks would get no further than the MA-38 the rest of the game as the Lynx defense bottled them up. The Lynx defense held the Golden Bucks to five first downs and 140 total yards while intercepting Fish three times and sacking him three times.

“The pressure they put on us in the backfield made it tough, and their defensive backs and safeties played very well,” said Bucksport coach Joel Sankey, whose young Bucks finish 7-3. “They made great adjustments.

“We’ve always been able to run bootleg on them because their ends come in, but they did a great job staying at home tonight.”

LYNX 15, GOLDEN BUCKS 6

Mattanawcook (7-3) 0 7 8 0 – 15

Bucksport (7-3) 0 0 6 0 – 6

MA – Vose 13 run (Jipson kick)

MA – Vose 1 run (Coggins rush)

B – Freeman 56 run (pass failed)

MA Bucksport

First downs 13 5

Rushing att.-yards 46-172 36-136

Passing comp.-att. 3-10 1-8

Passing yards 41 4

Total yards 213 140

Punts-avg. 4-35.0 4-33.8

Fumbles-lost 7-3 1-0

Intercepted by 3 0

Penalties-yards 3-25 3-45

Rushing

Mattanawcook: Vose 28-148, Braley 9-25, Libbey 7-0, Gardner 2-(minus 1); Bucksport: Freeman 5-66, Maguire 9-39, Warren 12-33, Gray 3-4, Fish 7-(minus 6)

Passing

Mattanawcook: Gardner 2-8-0-26, Libbey 1-2-0-15; Bucksport: Fish 1-8-3-4

Receiving

Mattanawcook: Leonard 1-19, Vose 1-15, Libbey 1-7; Bucksport: Ryder 1-4

A-550 (est.)