PORTLAND – A relentless rushing attack helped the Foxcroft Academy football team reach Saturday’s Class C state championship game.

An unsung passing attack helped the Ponies get over the top.

Junior quarterback Jamie Nason and senior wide receiver Jason Gould combined on three touchdown passes, and Foxcroft’s defense harnessed Boothbay’s double-wing offense as the Ponies completed an undefeated season with a 26-8 victory over the Seahawks at Fitzpatrick Stadium.

The state title was Foxcroft’s second in the last five years and came in the Ponies’ third straight trip to the final and fifth in the last six years.

“It’s the greatest thing you can accomplish as a senior in high school,” said senior running back and linebacker Jerod Rideout, who shook off a nagging knee injury to rush for a team-high 78 yards. “It really hasn’t hit me yet that this is my last time ever strapping on the pads, but there’s no better way to go out than with a state championship.”

Foxcroft (12-0) never trailed after taking the opening kickoff and marching 64 yards in 14 plays, a drive capped when Gould jumped between two defenders to snare an 18-yard TD pass from Nason with 5:54 left in the opening quarter.

“We were going to try to take advantage of their lack of height on the corners, and we’re very athletic with our wide receivers,” said Foxcroft coach Paul Withee. “Jamie’s a good athlete and executes our offense very well, and he’s got very good receivers so we just wanted to take advantage of what they were giving us today.”

Foxcroft’s defense, which hadn’t faced the tightly-knit double-wing offense since Boothbay edged Foxcroft 25-20 in the 2002 state final, limited the 10-2 Seahawks to 3.2 yards per carry and just one rushing attempt of more than 9 yards.

“They’re the better team,” said Boothbay coach Tim Rice. “They’re athletic, they’re big and they’re physical. Defensive-wise they had a great scheme.”

That scheme essentially was a 4-5 alignment with Foxcroft’s secondary moving up to provide additional run support.

“We had to plug the holes,” said Foxcroft sophomore Ian Champeon, whose second-quarter interception set up a Foxcroft touchdown. “We had to take out their blockers. They pulled all the time, so we had to have the linebackers come up and fill those holes. We held them to eight points. I think we did very well.”

With Foxcroft’s defense focusing on the run, Boothbay had early success passing to 6-foot-5 tight end Kris Noonan. But the Ponies adjusted with cornerbacks Alex Kasprzak and Stetson Bowden being supported on pass defense by ends Jon Geiger and Evan Worthing and secondary mates Champeon and Gould.

Noonan had just one catch in the second half.

Senior Shane Adkins scored Foxcroft’s lone rushing touchdown, a 43-yard sprint around the left corner with 10:07 left in the first half that gave the Ponies a 12-0 lead.

“I came around the corner, and they caved everything down inside,” said Adkins, who injured his left hamstring during the run. “I had one guy to beat and beat him even though my hamstring was a little weak. I beat him to the end zone, and right before the end zone my hamstring gave out, but I got in and that’s all that matters.”

After Champeon outleaped Boothbay’s Tim Stover for an interception that stalled a Seahawks’ march inside Foxcroft territory, the Ponies drove 84 yards to take a 20-0 lead.

Champeon kept the drive alive with a 26-yard run on third-and-10 from the FA 29 and added an 11-yard run on a counter play before Nason found Gould on a post pattern for a 29-yard touchdown pass with 5:34 left in the half. Wade Witham followed with a two-point conversion run.

“We really took advantage of their corner size because both of them were really small,” said Nason, who was 4-for-8 overall for 68 yards. “We knew we could get the ball up and over the defenders, and Jason made great catches.”

Boothbay found life on the ensuing kickoff, as Chris Graves raced down the right sideline for 60 yards before Chris Steinke made a touchdown-saving tackle at the Foxcroft 27. Four plays later, fullback Sean McDuff scored from the 5 and Stover added the extra-point rush to draw Boothbay within 20-8.

The Seahawks marched into Foxcroft territory after taking the second-half kickoff, but stalled when Noonan was called for offensive pass interference on a fourth-down catch that would have been good for a first down.

“We had a drive going in the third quarter, and we didn’t capitalize,” Rice said. “A play can turn the whole game, and it did.”

The penalty gave Foxcroft the ball near midfield and, two plays after Champeon (10 carries, 55 yards) took a counter run for 20 yards, Nason lofted a pass into the left side of the end zone that Gould grabbed over a defender for a 12-yard play that extended Foxcroft’s lead to 26-8 with 3:30 left in the third quarter.

“Jamie put it where it needed to be, and I jumped up and got it,” said Gould.

PONIES 26, SEAHAWKS 8

Foxcroft (12-0) 6 14 6 0 – 26

Boothbay (10-2) 0 8 0 0 – 8

F – Gould 18 pass from Nason (kick failed)

F – Adkins 43 run (kick failed)

F – Gould 29 pass from Nason (Witham rush)

B – McDuff 5 run (Stover rush)

F – Gould 12 pass from Nason (pass failed)

Foxcroft Boothbay

First downs 16 15

Rushing att.-yards 45-243 36-117

Passing comp.-att. 4-8 7-12

Passing yards 68 78

Total yards 311 195

Punts-avg. 3-38.3 2-37.0

Fumbles-lost 2-0 1-0

Intercepted by 1 0

Penalties-yards 9-77 6-50

Rushing

Foxcroft: Rideout 15-78, Witham 4-58, Champeon 10-55, Witham 5-28, Provost 6-20, Nason 5-4; Boothbay: Stover 19-84, Brandt 6-19, McDuff 3-12, Benoit 1-9, Tilton 4-3, Hogdahl 1-1, Cook 2-(minus 9)

Passing

Foxcroft: Nason 4-8-0-68; Boothbay: Cook 6-11-1-64, Brandt 1-1-0-14

Receiving

Foxcroft: Gould 4-68; Boothbay: Noonan 4-52, Stover 1-16, Farrin 1-13, Brandt 1-(minus 3)

A-1,750 (est.)