BANGOR – It was with serious reservations that Tim Johnson accepted the baseball coaching job at Hall-Dale High School.

Johnson, the dean of students at Mount Ararat High in Topsham, had coached at Hall-Dale for eight years in the 1980s. But he feared the 45-minute daily commute to Farmingdale and the long bus trips to away games would be difficult.

Johnson accepted the job – for one season. And though it was a grueling spring, his willingness to take over the program proved more rewarding than he could ever have imagined.

Nate Duncklee stroked a two-run single to key a three-run, seventh-inning rally Saturday, helping Johnson’s Hall-Dale Bulldogs cap an unbeaten season with a 6-4 Class C state championship victory over Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln at Mansfield Stadium.

“This is the most exciting thing and the most amazing thing that has ever happened,” said a teary-eyed Duncklee, who paced the Bulldogs with a double and two singles. “It will stay with every one of us the rest of our lives.”

Hall-Dale finished with a perfect 17-0 record, while coach Greg Reed’s Lynx wound up 15-5.

“That’s one hell of a year,” said Johnson, who coaxed former Mount Ararat coach Bruce Kingdon out of coaching retirement to serve as an assistant this spring.

“I’m going to go buy a lottery ticket tonight,” Johnson said.

Still, the victory didn’t come easily, not even for a Hall-Dale team that outscored its opponents 170-42 through 16 games. The Bulldogs scored twice in the first inning, but then had trouble scratching out hits against Mattanawcook senior John Crocker.

“He just had us frustrated,” Johnson said. “That kid gutted it out so hard.”

Crocker went into the seventh leading 4-3 but with his pitch count – and the temperature – climbing, Hall-Dale finally chased him after he hit Justin Lawrence with a pitch to start the inning. It was Crocker’s fourth hit batsman of the game.

“We talked before the seventh,” Reed said. “[Crocker] was over 100 pitches at the end of six and I said, ‘any runner, you’re done.’ ”

Reed brought in Mike Springer, who got an out before surrendering a single to James Graham, who stole second to set up Duncklee’s double to right-center. He rode home on Mike Sproul’s single to center that made it 6-4.

“This team just doesn’t really do it until they have to,” said Graham, who pitched 1 1/3 innings of no-hit relief and struck out four to earn the win. “We’re procrastinators like that.”

Graham doubled and singled with an RBI and Steve Vellani tripled and singled (1 RBI) for the winners.

Andrew Kites paced the Lynx with a run-scoring single in the first and an RBI double in the third. Andrew McLellan doubled, singled and knocked in a run.

“”One base hit and we’re still playing right now,” Reed said. “These guys [Hall-Dale] won it. I don’t think we lost it.”

The Eastern Maine champs had taken a 4-3 lead in the fifth off H-D starter Jon Vorhis. Springer walked with one out, stole second and scored on Delany Wilkes’ looper over first base.

“It had been a long time since somebody had a lead on us and we didn’t handle it well,” Johnson said. “We just said calm down, calm down… it’s going to happen.”

Hall-Dale took a 2-0 lead in the first on a Vellani fly ball that was misplayed into a triple, Lawrence’s pop double to left, and Graham’s double past first base. Duncklee singled, but Crocker struck out the last two men to end the uprising.

MA scored once in the first on Kites’ RBI single, then tied it on his RBI double in the third. The Bulldogs made it 3-2 in the fourth on Vellani’s two-out RBI single, but the Lynx countered on McLellan’s RBI single later in the inning.

Bulldogs 6, Lynx 4

Hall-Dale (17-0) Mattanawcook Acad. (15-5)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Vellani, 2b 3 1 2 1 Murchison, cf 3 2 0

Lawrence, cf 2 2 1 1 Springer, 2b-p 3 1 0

Vachon, 1b 4 0 0 0 Kites, rf 3 0 2

Graham, ss-p 4 1 2 1 Wilkes, dh 4 0 1

Duncklee, c 4 1 3 2 Cousineau, ss 0 0 0

Sproul, 3b-ss 4 0 1 1 F. Pete, c 4 0

Haley, lf 4 0 1 0 Malone, 3b-p 3 0 0

Rowe, dh-3b 2 1 1 0 McLellan, 1b 3 0 1

Gray, rf 3 0 0 0 a-Gardner 0 0 0

Crocker, p-2b 2 0 0 0

b-Lasko 1 0 1 0

S. Whitney, 3b 0 0 0 0

Weatherbee, lf 3 0 0 0

Totals 30 6 11 6 Totals 29 4 7 4

a-ran for McLellan in the fourth; b-singled for Crocker in the fourth

Hall-Dale 200 100 3 ? 6

Mattanawcook Academy 101 110 0 ? 4

E?Vellani 2; Crocker, Kites; LOB?Hall-Dale 8; Mattanawcook 7; 2B?Lawrence, Graham, Duncklee; Kites, Pete; 3B?Vellani; DP?Vellani-Graham-Vachon; SB?Duncklee, Vellani, Graham; Springer, Murchison, Kites

Hall-Dale IP H R ER BB SO

Vorhis 5 2/3 7 4 2 1 5

Graham (W,2-0) 1 1/3 0 0 0 2 4

Mattanawcook IP H R ER BB SO

Crocker 6* 8 4 3 1 7

Springer (L,4-2) 1/3 3 2 2 1 0

Malone 2/3 0 0 0 0 1

*-pitched to one batter in the seventh

HBP?Lawrence, Rowe, Gray by Crocker; Rowe by Malone; WP?Vorhis 3, Graham; Crocker; PB?Pete; T?2:39; ATT?275 (est.)