Lawrence gets physical to earn state crown

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PORTLAND – Saturday’s Class A state championship football game was supposed to pit speed and finesse against size and power. Well, it did, but not the way everyone expected.

The quick and agile Lawrence Bulldogs of Fairfield took a page from the playbook of Lawrence title teams of yesteryear to hold off the big, bruising Gorham Rams 14-13 on a warm, sunny afternoon at Fitzpatrick Stadium.

Lawrence capped an unbeaten season with the school’s first state football title since 1984 and fourth overall.

“We’re used to playing against power teams all season long, so playing a physical game was in our favor because we like to hit, too,” said Lawrence senior tailback Aaron Champagne.

This Lawrence team won in much the same way as those traditional, blue-collar teams coached by Pete Cooper: With a solid run game and defense. In fact, the Bulldogs basically beat the Rams at their own game – playing physical, smash-mouth football. Ironically, the Rams nearly thwarted the strategy with uncharacteristic finesse.

The Bulldogs’ switched between three different base defenses – four-man (4-3), five-man (5-2) and even six-man (6-2) fronts – constantly to confuse the Rams, load up the line of scrimmage, bog down the Ram-paging run game, and dare the power-prone team to pass, something Gorham hasn’t done much of out of its double-wing offense this season.

“We don’t normally pass because we love running it, but when they give you the pass, take it,” said coach Dave Kilborn, whose Rams wind up 10-2. “We probably should have passed more.”

They probably should have, given senior quarterback Mark Clements’ performance. The former fullback completed six of eight passes for two touchdowns and 128 yards with no interceptions.

“The thing I think that helped us today was we were really using three different defensive schemes and playing a bit of a guessing game with them,” said second-year coach John Hersom, whose Bulldogs finish 11-0. “They executed a couple of long throws against us as we concentrated on the runs in certain situations, but it basically worked in keeping their big backs in check.”

The Rams averaged 5.3 yards per carry – good, but not quite up to Gorham’s expectations, especially when the ‘Dogs’ yards-per-carry average was exactly the same.

With each team’s defenses and run games stalemating the other’s, the game came down to mistakes and who capitalized on them. The Rams made one and the ‘Dogs capitalized on it early when Joe Rainey recovered a Gorham fumble on the opening kickoff at Gorham’s 29-yard line. Seven plays (all runs) and 2:22 later, the ‘Dogs led 6-0 on Aaron Champagne’s 6-yard touchdown run.

Despite starting their next series at their own 6, the Rams regrouped quickly and marched 39 yards on 10 running plays. Gorham then passed for the first time and made it a big strike as Clements found Justin Villacci on a slant pattern to the left sideline. Villacci slipped a tackle and was gone for a 55-yard score. Anders Nielsen’s PAT kick made it 7-6 with 3:59 left in the first.

The teams traded respectable drives before Lawrence made a big defensive stand, stopping big fullback Drew Hutton for a 1-yard loss on 4th-and-inches at the G-46. Four runs later, Champagne busted right into daylight, waited for some blockers, and then broke three tackles en route to a 36-yard TD run. Champagne (87 yards on 18 carries, 19 yards on one reception) then burst off right tackle and dove ahead into the end zone for a two-point conversion with 7:03 left in the second.

The score stayed that way through the rest of the first half and the third quarter despite Gorham having to punt only once in the game. The ‘Dogs did it with a bend-but-don’t-break approach that stopped the Rams on fourth down twice.

The Rams seemed set to tie it, however, when Clements capped a six-play, 53-yard drive by finding Villacci on the right flat for a 39-yard TD pass with 11:53 to play. Nielsen’s PAT kick was blocked by Champagne, who shot through the middle of the line and lunged up to knock down the ball and preserve the lead.

Gorham’s final attempt to retake the lead came at the end of a 32-yard drive that took 11 plays, the last of which was a 46-yard field-goal attempt by Nielsen that was high and accurate but fell about 10 feet short of the crossbar with 3:55 left. The field-goal attempt was set up by an illegal motion penalty that turned a fourth-and-two into a fourth-and-seven.

As physical as they had to play to win this squeaker, speed was certainly still a big weapon for the ‘Dogs.

“It helped both ways, but I think our speed helped us a little more offensively today,” said Hersom. “They didn’t really get outside on us that much, but offensively we were able to get outside on them when we really needed to.”

Two-way starter Jon Doyon had a more simplistic take.

“We just told our defensive line to stay low and make piles and the rest of us would make plays,” Doyon said.

BULLDOGS 14, RAMS 13

Lawrence 6 8 0 0 – 14

Gorham 7 0 0 6 – 13

L – A. Champagne 6 run (rush failed)

G – Villacci 55 pass from Clements (Nielsen kick)

L – A. Champagne 36 run (A. Champagne rush)

G – Villacci 39 pass from Clements (kick blocked)

Lawrence Gorham

First downs 11 13

Rushing att.-yards 42-148 44-153

Passing comp.-att. 3-4 6-8

Passing yards 21 128

Total yards 169 281

Punts-avg. 4-31.0 1-36.0

Fumbles-lost 1-0 3-2

Intercepted by 0 0

Penalties-yards 3-23 6-43

Rushing

Lawrence: A. Champagne 18-87, S. Champagne 6-23, Wallace 5-12, Church 5-11, M. Hersom 1-8, J. Hersom 7-7; Gorham: Vo;;acco 21-78, Mitchell 12-41, Hutton 6-25, Woods 2-7, Walker 1-2, Clements 2-0

Passing

Lawrence: J. Hersom 3-4-0-21; Gorham: Clements 6-8-0-128

Receiving

Lawrence: S. Champagne 1-19, Nelson 1-2, A. Champagne 1-0; Gorham: Villacci 3-108, Mitchell 2-13, Sturgis 1-7

A-9,000 (est.)