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BANGOR – Sandwiched between an emotional one-point overtime win over previously unbeaten Lewiston and next week’s game against cross-river rival Brewer, Friday’s homecoming game against Mt. Blue of Farmington worried Bangor head coach Mark Hackett.
In the end, the only thing he needed to worry about was whether he got everyone into the game.
Hackett’s Rams had just too much size, stamina and weapons for the visiting Cougars and cruised to a 46-0 homecoming football victory on a soggy night at Cameron Stadium.
“I always worried about this one and we never look by Mt. Blue ever,” said Hackett, whose Rams improved to 6-1. “They gave us all we wanted early, but I think they were running out of gas and we were wearing them down.”
Statistics certainly bear him out. The Rams piled up a head-turning 479 yards on 53 carries behind a dominating effort by an offensive line of center Stephen Schley, left tackle Sam Martin, left guard Renaud Collard-Seguin, right tackle Andrew Riley, and right guard Tyler McDade. Tight end Ryan Weston also delivered solid blocking up front in Bangor’s wing-T.
Kyle Vanidestine was the primary beneficiary of that dominance with 177 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries.
“They did an amazing job opening up holes you could drive a truck through,” Vanidestine said. “And their stamina, it just showed when they were still making holes in the fourth quarter and their defensive line couldn’t do anything about it.”
Fellow senior running back Shane Walton also eclipsed the century mark with 102 yards and a TD on 14 carries.
“We’re spreading the ball around and it’s kind of tough to stop it when you have three big threats in the run game,” Walton said. “They were giving us up the middle after outside worked pretty well early.”
Two other backs came close to 100 yards as sophomore Lonnie Hackett had 81 yards and a two TDs on four carries, and junior Adam Billings had 74 yards and one TD on six carries.
The 3-4 Cougars were without primary pass-catcher Justin Brooks, who was sick all week.
“He didn’t even make the trip. “Not having Justin, we were basically throwing to one side and they figured that out,” said Mt. Blue coach Gary Parlin. “To tell you the truth, we have so many guys going both ways, I think right now we’re a tired football team.”
The Rams were able to take a couple pages out of the Cougars’ passing playbook and put them to good use as quarterback Ian Edwards found big target Weston for two big catches.
Weston made it 14-0 Rams after hauling in a 15-yard pass to the right sideline from Edwards, breaking three tackles, and rumbling into the end zone for a 43-yard touchdown reception with 4:15 left in the first half.
“It’s always nice when you can get Weston the ball,” Walton said. “It’s tough to tackle him. If you get it in his hands, you know something good’s going to happen.”
Another good thing happened just four minutes later.
The Rams made it 20-0 with 11 seconds before halftime as Weston grabbed a 22-yard TD strike over the middle and shrugged off a hit at the 5-yard line before taking it in.
“They try to take him away,” Hackett said of Weston. “We don’t throw the ball a lot, but they still have to account for him and he’s huge blocking. He just collapses people.”
Bangor held the Cougars to 218 total yards, 142 of which came on the ground. Quarterback Joe Gilbert passed for 76 yards, but completed just 6 of 14 attempts and was intercepted twice.
“We stopped the run and our whole week, we just worked on pass coverage,” said Vanidestine. “Coach told us the linebackers had run and the DB’s had pass. We really took away their threat in the pass game.”
RAMS 46, COUGARS 0
Mt. Blue (3-4) 0 0 0 0 – 0
Bangor (6-1) 0 20 6 20 – 46
B-Vanidestine 3 run (kick failed)
B-Weston 43 pass from Edwards (Edwards pass to Walton)
B-Weston 22 pass from Edwards (kick failed)
B-Walton 15 run (pass failed)
B-Billings 2 run (Lawson kick)
B-Hackett 39 run (kick failed)
B-Hackett 33 run (Lawson kick)
Mt. Blue Bangor
First downs 11 25
Rushing att.-yards 37-142 53-479
Passing comp.-att. 6-15 4-8
Passing yards 76 80
Total yards 218 559
Punts-avg. 5-34.0 1-30.0
Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-0
Intercepted by 0 2
Penalties-yards 1-10 6-50
Rushing
Mt. Blue: Wilbur 7-52, Rowe 11-34, Dwight 6-30, Templeton 2-9, Gilbert 6-6, Kane 2-5, Wallace 2-5, Backus 1-1; Bangor: Vanidestine 18-177, Walton 14-102, Hackett 4-81, Billings 6-74, Lewis 2-18, Edwards 4-14, Kingston 2-7, Duff 2-6, Higgins 1-0
Passing
Mt. Blue: Gilbert 6-14-2-76, Backus 0-1-0-0; Bangor: Edwards 4-8-0-80
Receiving
Mt. Blue: Altmaier 4-45, Templeton 2-31; Bangor: Weston 2-65, Pembroke 1-19, Walton 1-(minus 4)
A-200 (est.)
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