FAIRFIELD – They weren’t calling it a must-win game, but Friday night’s Pine Tree Conference football faceoff with Bangor was exactly that for the Lawrence High School Bulldogs.

And although Lawrence head coach John Hersom didn’t call it a must-win, he did call the game’s key factors for determining the winner. It sounded a bit clichi-ish at the time, but the first-year ‘Dogs coach said fewer mistakes would be made by the winning team.

The Bulldogs made just one mistake in 48 minutes of football, and even that didn’t hurt them as they overcame the shock of watching Bangor build a 14-0 lead and rallied for a 27-14 victory on a balmy night at Cooper Stadium.

The win improves 4-2 Lawrence’s chances of securing one of four PTC playoff spots with three weeks to go in the regular season and, at the same time, leaves 4-2 Bangor with little margin for error.

“Now we can’t lose and still be in it. They may be able to lose three games and still be in it because of who they’ve beaten,” said Bangor coach Mark Hackett. “That makes it tough.”

The Rams were firmly in the driver’s seat early after scoring on their second and third possessions of the game.

Tom Crews capped a six-play, 60-yard drive with a 38-yard, highlight film TD catch with 3:53 left in the first quarter.

Quarterback Ian Edwards (10-for-20, 189 yards) zipped a short pass to a tightly covered Crews in the left flat. Crews reached over defender Dylan Costigan, tipped the ball away from Costigan, and snatched it in midair before racing 15 yards to the end zone.

Crews (5 catches for 121 yards) accounted for Bangor’s second score as well by getting a step away from Lawrence’s Tom Hersom and catching a 27-yard TD pass over the middle with four seconds left in the quarter to cap a 74-yard, four-play drive.

The teams traded a pair of short drives and punts before Lawrence answered and halved Bangor’s lead. The ‘Dogs mounted a 66-yard, 12-play drive that ate up three minutes, 56 seconds. It ended with a 3-yard TD run by Costigan (90 yards on 20 carries) off left tackle on a counter play with 23 seconds left in the half.

It was the second half that provided the game-changing plays. Bangor took the opening kickoff and stalled in three plays. On the ensuing punt, the snap got away from punter Shane Walton and Lawrence’s Brian Trahan recovered it at the Rams’ 20-yard line.

After two incompletions and a pass interference call on Bangor, Costigan scored and tied things on a 9-yard run on a sweep to the right. Things would get worse for the Rams as the ensuing kickoff was fumbled by Bangor’s Jimmy Batchelder and recovered by Dylan’s brother Devon Costigan at the B-31. Seven runs and an Andrew Ashland point-after kick later, it was 21-14 Lawrence with 6:10 left in the third.

“You can’t fumble a punt and then fumble the next kickoff. I thought that was pretty much what killed us,” said Hackett. “Then they started running the ball well after that.”

The Rams regrouped and drove from their 35 to the L-7, but a fourth-down, 24-yard field goal attempt by Tyson Barron was wide right. Both teams failed to score on their next two possessions before Lawrence all but put it away with a seven-play, 65-yard drive capped by a 39-yard TD run off left tackle and down the left side by Cory Church, who broke two tackles along the way. The PAT kick was missed, but the ‘Dogs were up 27-14 with 6:01 to play.

The final dagger through Bangor’s heart came with three minutes to play and the Rams making a desperate scoring drive. After Bangor completed four of five pass attempts while driving from the B-32 to the L-17, Jon Doyen jarred the ball loose from Bangor’s Ryan Weston after Weston made a catch. Tom Hersom – one of John’s twin sons – scooped it up and allowed the ‘Dogs to run the clock out.

John’s other twin son, quarterback Mike Hersom, also played a part in the Hersom family Friday football function as he completed two of eight passes for 50 yards and ran for another 18.

“I’m sure they weren’t expecting that from me, but I took what I could get,” Mike Hersom said.

The Bulldogs made one defensive adjustment to slow down Bangor’s passing game and that, combined with better intensity and execution from the interior lines made all the difference as Lawrence outrushed Bangor 226 yards to 97.

“We changed up our secondary and went pretty much with a cover four defense on their passing game and our defensive linemen clogged up the holes and our linebackers got after them,” said Tom Hersom.

Bangor tailback Alex Gallant was limited to nine carries after suffering a flu and migraine headaches most of the week, but Hackett wasn’t using that as an excuse.

“The last two weeks, in the second half, we have not been able to establish the run,” Hackett said. “The bottom line is we couldn’t run the ball and they could.”

BULLDOGS 27, RAMS 14

Bangor (4-2) 14 0 0 0 – 14

Lawrence (4-2) 0 7 14 6 – 27

B – Crews 38 pass from Edwards (Barron kick)

B – Crews 27 pass from Edwards (Barron kick)

L – D. Costigan 3 run (A. Ashland kick)

L – D. Costigan 9 run (A. Ashland kick)

L – Underwood 1 run (A. Ashland kick)

L – Church 39 run (kick failed)

Bangor Lawrence

First downs 10 15

Rushing att.-yards 26-97 54-226

Passing comp.-att. 10-20 2-8

Passing yards 189 50

Total yards 286 276

Punts-avg. 6-40.8 8-29.9

Fumbles-lost 3-2 1-0

Intercepted by 0 0

Penalties-yards 4-48 5-34

Rushing

Bangor: Clukey 9-59, Gallant 9-15, Silver 6-14, Edwards 1-8, Banbrick 1-1; Lawrence: D. Costigan 20-90, Church 11-72, Underwood 20-46, M. Hersom 3-18

Passing

Bangor: Edwards 10-20-0-189; Lawrence: M. Hersom 2-8-0-50

Receiving

Bangor: Crews 5-121, Barron 2-39, Weston 2-20, Clukey 1-9; Lawrence: M. Ashland 1-26, Brochu 1-24

A-600 (est.)