BANGOR – Chris Maguire and Alex Gallant, two of the state’s top athletes from the high school Class of 2007, imposed their wills on the American Legion Zone 1 baseball tournament Sunday, helping Brewer and Bangor earn return trips to the state championships.

Led by Maguire, fourth-seeded Brewer continued its dramatic run through the zone playoffs, rallying from deficits of 5-0 and 6-3 to upend top-seeded Trenton 8-7 in a winners’ bracket game at the Winkin Baseball Complex on the campus of Husson College.

The victory, on the heels of a 4-3, 10-inning victory over No. 3 Waldo on Friday night and a 2-0, 11-inning win against No. 2 Bangor on Saturday night, enabled the Falcons to remain unbeaten entering Monday’s zone championship round.

“These have been some of the biggest wins in this program’s history,” said Brewer coach David Morris. “There’s been a lot of great tradition with the Brewer Falcons, but this group right here has put its name in the history book.

“We told our guys right from the beginning that this had nothing to do with talent or who can pitch or who can hit, it’s total desire.”

Gallant, who hadn’t started on the mound since midway through the high school season due to an elbow injury, pitched a nine-inning three-hitter in Sunday’s late game as Bangor eliminated Trenton 10-2.

Brewer (15-8) can clinch the zone title with one win Monday, while 20-4 Bangor needs to defeat the Falcons twice to earn the crown. Play begins at 4 p.m.

The state tournament begins Saturday at Saint Joseph’s College in Standish.

After pitching primarily in a closer’s role this summer, Gallant threw a nine-inning three-hitter as the Comrades ended Trenton’s run.

“Alex said coming into the tournament that if we got down late in the tournament that he’d like to have the ball,” said Bangor coach Fred Lower. “So I told him two days ago he’d have it. He’s a very competitive kid, he gets fired up but he uses his emotion in the right way. He did a tremendous job.”

Gallant struck out 10, walked two and hit a batter, and also singled twice with three RBIs to pace Bangor’s 13-hit attack. Kyle Vanidestine added three singles and two RBIs for the Comrades, while Scott Hackett contributed a two-run double.

Trenton (20-4) got two singles from Phineas Peake and one single from Kyle Shea.

“[Trenton’s] a great hitting team, a very good team,” said Gallant. “They didn’t come in first in the zone for no reason, so it feels very good to play well against them.”

Gallant and Tom Crews each hit an RBI single in the first inning to give Bangor a 2-0 lead.

Gallant held Trenton hitless until Shea singled to open the fourth. Shea scored on a two-out single by Peake to cut the gap to 2-1.

Gallant lined a two-out, two-run single up the middle in the fifth to extend the margin to 4-1, and Vanidestine’s two-out, two-run single in the eighth made it 6-1.

Trenton scored in the bottom of the inning as Peake singled and came home on a wild pitch.

Bangor added four runs in the ninth, highlighted by Hackett’s two-run double.

Maguire did it all for Brewer late in its victory over Trenton, scoring twice in the last three innings and making a key diving stop at third base before earning the save with two innings of pitching relief.

Maguire replaced Chase Daniels, who pitched 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to give the Falcons a chance to come back and ultimately earn the win.

“All year long we’ve been 17 strong,” said Morris. “Chase did exactly what we expected him to do, and he came through.”

Brewer tied the game at 6-6 with three runs in the top of the seventh. Rick Adams doubled, went to third on a passed ball and scored on Eddie Robbins’ sacrifice fly. Maguire then reached on an error and scored on Cam Wadleigh’s single to center. Wadleigh took second on the throw home and scored the tying run on Prentiss Swett’s single to center.

Maguire prevented Trenton from regaining the lead in the bottom of the inning, diving toward the third-base line to stop an infield single by Josh Astbury from getting through, which forced baserunner Lucas Marks to stop at third.

Daniels then got Peake to ground out to end the inning.

“It was a reaction,” said Maguire, who made a similar stop on a grounder by Evan Alexander earlier in the game. “I wanted to keep the ball out of the outfield, and I thought I might be able to get up and throw but I didn’t have enough time so I just thought it would be safer to hold onto it, and we got out of the inning.”

The Falcons took their first lead in the eighth on a suicide squeeze by Matt Jackson that scored Mike Kotredes from third base.

Brewer made it 8-6 in the top of the ninth when Maguire walked and scored on an infield error.

Trenton closed to within a run in the bottom of the inning as Shea singled and scored on a groundout by Blake Wessel, but Maguire recorded his only strikeout to end the game with runners on second and third.

“We knew we weren’t out of the game,” said Maguire. “The last time we played them we got down by seven or eight runs and almost came back and beat them, so we’re never out of a game, we’re always fighting.”

Trenton took a 2-0 lead in the first. Wessel walked and Collin Ciomei one-hopped a ground-rule double over the left-field fence Collin Henry and Nick Swanson followed with back-to-back sacrifice flies.

The lead grew to 5-0 in the third, with Ciomei hitting an RBI double and Henry adding a run-scoring single to highlight a three-run rally.

Brewer broke through with three runs in the fourth, with Eric White doubling home one run and Swett adding an RBI single, but Shea’s RBI single in the top of the fifth restored Trenton to a 6-3 lead.

“When you have young kids, that’s a lot of pressure,” said Morris. “We’re a young team, but we’re going to the state championships and I’m not quite sure there were a lot of people who thought we were going to do that.

“Whether we win this whole thing or not, we’re going to the state tournament, and that was our goal.”

In Sunday’s second game, Bangor scored nine runs in the first two innings and cruised to victory.

Crews led the Comrades to their early lead with a two-run triple in the first inning and a two-run single in the second.

Presque Isle (13-10) closed within 9-4 in the fourth on RBI singles by Michael Cleary and Tom Desjardins, but Bangor’s John Cox pitched four innings of solid relief to help the Comrades put the game away.

Crews finished with a triple, two singles, four RBIs and three stolen bases, while Vanidestine added two singles, two stolen bases and three RBIs and Gordon Webb contributed a a two-run double.

Logan York had three singles for the Patriots, while Desjardins had two RBI singles and Tyler Lamoureux also singled home a run.

(Sunday’s First Game)

Brewer (15-8) 000 300 311 – 8-10-3

Trenton (20-3) 203 010 001 – 7-10-2

Klenowski, Daniels (5), Maguire (8) and Wadleigh; N. Swanson, Ciomei (7) and Marks

(Second Game)

Presque Isle (13-10) 011 020 020 – 6 10 5

Bangor (19-4) 360 100 21x – 13 10 4

Enman, Moody (3) and Soucy; Leeman, Russell (4), Jo. Cox (6) and Webb

(Third Game)

Bangor (20-4) 200 020 024 – 10 13 3

Trenton (20-4) 000 010 010 – 2 3 1

Gallant and Webb; Merrill, Ciomei (7), Hale (9) and Marks