Clark, Vigue carry unbeaten Skowhegan by Rams

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SKOWHEGAN – Early in the season, the Skowhegan High football team switched from its tightly knit double-wing offense to a similarly compact power-I formation featuring senior tailback Billy Clark and senior fullback Cody Vigue.

The results have been most impressive.

Clark and Vigue combined for 378 rushing yards and six touchdowns Friday night as the unbeaten Indians treated a large Homecoming crowd to a 44-20 Pine Tree Conference Class A football victory over Bangor at Reginald Clark Memorial Field.

“This was a good test, and shows we’re going to be a good team come the end of the year,” said Clark, who rushed 28 times for 195 yards and four touchdowns.

Overall Skowhegan (5-0) rushed for 381 yards on 52 carries, an average of 7.3 yards per attempt. Of all those carries, just one went for negative yardage as the Indians’ offensive front of Justin Perri, Jimmy Quirion, Cody Williamson, Johnathon Fuller, Todd Steward and tight end Paul Verville kept Bangor on its collective heels.

“I was surprised at how much they dominated the line of scrimmage,” said Bangor coach Mark Hackett. “I knew they were the best team up front we’ve played yet, I just didn’t think it would be that one-sided.”

For Clark, who began the night as the PTC’s leading rusher with 692 yards, the power-I enables him to set up as the deep back, then read his blockers as he approaches the line of scrimmage rather than just head in the initial direction the play is headed, as was often the case in the double-wing.

“With our line you’re already running downhill,” said Clark, “and in the power-I you can see the holes a lot better.”

Clark set the game’s tone on Skowhegan’s first possession by capping off a 64-yard drive with a 14-yard touchdown run just 3:24 into the game.

Vigue, who finished with 21 carries for 183 yards and two touchdowns, followed that with a 3-yard scoring run on the Indians’ next possession, and Skowhegan had a 14-0 first-quarter lead.

Little changed the rest of the night. The Indians scored on six of their seven possessions overall, halted only by a pass interception by Bangor’s Jason Duff inside Rams’ territory with 19.6 seconds left in the half.

“Teams key on Billy a lot, so that gives our line a chance to fake one way and go back the other way and then crush ’em,” said Vigue. “Our line just crushes people. They never give up, they block to the whistle and I think they’re one of the best lines in the state.”

Vigue extended Skowhegan’s lead to 20-0 with a 55-yard scoring run on the first play of the second quarter. Initially he looked to be stopped 5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, only to break an ankle tackle and race down the right sideline to the end zone.

“All of my players were still blocking for me and I didn’t hear a whistle,” said Vigue, “so I just kept going.”

Bangor’s Lonnie Hackett (23 carries, 109 yards) answered with a 1-yard run to get Bangor on the scoreboard, but Skowhegan then marched 70 yards to respond on a 6-yard run by Clark.

With three minutes left in the first half, both Clark and Vigue already had topped 100 rushing yards.

“Up front we just knocked them in the mouth right off,” Clark said. “We knew we had to score because Bangor’s offense is pretty explosive, but our defense came up big, too.”

Sophomore quarterback Joe Seccareccia found tight end Josiah Hartley behind the defense on Bangor’s next offensive play with a 71-yard touchdown pass to pull the Rams within 28-12 by intermission.

Bangor (2-3) then controlled the ball for the first 6 minutes, 59 seconds of the third quarter but got nothing to show for it as Skowhegan’s defense forced the Rams to punt on fourth-and-17 from the Indians’ 37.

Skowhegan then drove 90 yards in 14 plays with Clark scoring from the 1 to stretch its lead to 36-12 16 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Hackett scored his second touchdown on an 8-yard run as Bangor pulled within 36-20 with 8:14 to play, but again Skowhegan embarked on another long drive, winding 61/2 minutes off the clock before Clark scored on another 1-yard run with 1:48 left in the game.

eclark@bangordailynews.net

990-8045

INDIANS 44, RAMS 20

Bangor (2-3) 0 12 0 8 – 20

Skowhegan (5-0) 14 14 0 16 – 44

S – Clark 14 run (Clark rush)

S – Vigue 3 run (pass failed)

S – Vigue 55 run (rush failed)

B – Hackett 1 run (kick failed)

S – Clark 6 run (Clark rush)

B – Hartley 71 pass from J. Seccareccia (pass failed)

S – Clark 1 run (Clark rush)

B – Hackett 8 run (J. Seccareccia rushed)

S – Clark 1 run (Clark rush)

Bangor Skowhegan

First downs 15 29

Rushing att.-yards 34-173 52-381

Passing comp.-att. 6-14 4-9

Passing yards 137 43

Total yards 310 424

Punts-avg. 3-25.3 0-0

Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0

Intercepted by 1 0

Penalties-yards 8-48 3-25

Rushing

Bangor: Hackett 23-109, Billings 3-31, Pembroke 2-21, Duff 2-16, Simonds 2-(-1), J. Seccareccia 2-(-3); Skowhegan: Clark 28-195, Vigue 21-183, Lancaster 1-6, Greenleaf 1-0, McGowan 1-(-3)

Passing

Bangor: J. Seccareccia 5-12-0-123, Morris 1-2-0-14; Skowhegan: McGowan 4-9-1-43

Receiving

Bangor: Pembroke 3-45, Hartley 1-71, Vance 1-14, Henigan 1-7; Skowhegan: Vigue 3-27, Taylor 1-16

A-1,500 (est.)