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BANGOR – The kickoff return can be a major weapon for a football team.
But the Bangor Rams made the most of the kickoff itself Friday night, recovering three of their own and one Brunswick onside kick to help themselves to a 42-6 victory over the Dragons in an Eastern Maine Class A quarterfinal at Cameron Stadium.
The win was the sixth straight for No. 2 Bangor, which improved to 8-1 and will host No. 3 Lewiston in a regional semifinal next Friday night. Lewiston (8-1) edged No. 6 Cony of Augusta 28-25 on Friday.
No. 7 Brunswick finishes with a 3-6 record.
“Being playoff time, we’ve been here before but it’s so easy to get up for games like this,” said Bangor quarterback Ian Edwards. “It’s a lot of fun, there’s a lot of anticipation, and for games like this it’s hard not to get excited.”
Senior running backs Shane Walton and Kyle Vanidestine combined for 257 rushing yards and five touchdowns for the Rams. Vanidestine rushed for 153 yards on 17 carries to surpass 1,000 yards for the season, and he also scored on touchdown runs of 23 and 29 yards.
Walton contributed 104 yards on 11 rushes and four pass receptions for 47 yards. He scored on runs of 3 and 30 yards and on a 34-yard pass from Edwards.
Edwards also scored on a 3-yard keeper for Bangor, which outgained Brunswick 408-232 in total yardage.
The Rams, who defeated the Dragons 45-0 during Week 2 of the regular season, broke open their rematch by scoring three touchdowns within a 1-minute, 45-second span early in the second quarter.
Walton, who opened the scoring with a 3-yard run on Bangor’s first possession of the game, outsprinted Brunswick’s Taurean Easter to the corner and then raced down the left sideline for a 30-yard run that pushed the Rams’ lead to 15-0 with 10:59 left in the first half.
Vanidestine then popped up a short kickoff that was muffed by Brunswick and recovered by Bangor’s Tyler McDade at the Brunswick 41.
Three plays later, Kyle Vanidestine took a pitch from Edwards and scored on a 23-yard run to extend the lead to 21-0 with 9:11 left in the period.
Vanidestine followed with a second straight short kickoff, and again Brunswick couldn’t field the ball and McDade recovered at the Dragons’ 39.
“The first one just kind of fell in my lap, and the second one there was a pile and I just grabbed it out from beneath it because nobody was holding on to it,” said McDade. “I guess I was just in the right place at the right time.”
Walton followed with a 35-yard run to the Brunswick 4, and one play later Edwards scored on a 3-yard keeper to make it 28-0 with 8:15 to go before halftime.
“All week we talked about kicking off normal,” said Vanidestine. We knew [Brunswick’s Conner Breisacher] was a good return guy, and then yesterday [Bangor coach Mark Hackett] had me practice the short kick once just in case, and tonight he came up to me I think on the second kickoff and said do what we did in practice yesterday.
“I just tried to pop it high enough so guys can go flying in there and get it, and they just ended up working.”
A more conventional onside kick by Vanidestine followed that went 11 yards and then bounced back before Bangor made yet another recovery.
The Rams went three-and-out on that possession before Brunswick finally got the ball back.
“The onside kick was a mistake,” said Hackett. “It was supposed to be the same thing we did before but we kicked it and it went 11 yards and then bounced back. Our kids didn’t even know to get on it, they didn’t realize it was an onside kick, but that’s just what happens when things are going well.”
Bangor drove 85 yards in four plays over the final 23.6 seconds of the quarter to take a 35-0 halftime lead, with a 38-yard pass from Edwards to C.J. Eaton setting up a 34-yard TD pass from Edwards to Walton as time expired.
RAMS 42, DRAGONS 6
Brunswick (3-6) 0 0 0 6 – 6
Bangor (8-1) 8 27 7 0 – 42
BAN – Walton 3 run (Walton pass from Vanidestine)
BAN – Walton 30 run (Vanidestine kick)
BAN – Vanidestine 23 run (kick failed)
BAN – Edwards 3 run (Vanidestine kick)
BAN – Walton 34 pass from Edwards (Vanidestine kick)
BAN – Vanidestine 29 run (Vanidestine kick)
BRU – Bryant 43 pass from Jensen (no PAT attempted)
Brunswick Bangor
First downs 9 19
Rushing att.-yards 38-164 44-324
Passing comp.-att. 3-13 6-10
Passing yards 68 84
Total yards 232 418
Punts-avg. 2-31.0 1-34.0
Fumbles-lost 4-3 1-1
Intercepted by 1 0
Penalties-yards 5-40 5-22
Rushing
Brunswick: Tanner 12-72, Diaz 6-66, Basquez 6-12, Miller 3-11, Cejka 2-4, Mahoney 1-2, Stewart 1-1, Jensen 7-(minus-4); Bangor: Vanidestine 17-153, Walton 11-104, Hackett 5-39, Pembroke 3-17, Billings 4-14, Lewis 1-2, Edwards 3-(minus-5)
Passing
Brunswick: Basquez 1-8-0-16, Jensen 2-4-0-52, Miller 0-1-0-0; Bangor: Edwards 5-8-1-85, Pembroke 1-2-0-(minus-1)
Receiving
Brunswick: Bryant 1-43, Breisacher 1-16, Imbriano 1-9; Bangor: Walton 4-47, Eaton 1-38, Lewis 1-(minus-1)
A-750 (est.)
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