MILLINOCKET – The field-control battle seemingly had been lost Monday evening after Calais-Woodland mishandled a punt late in the third quarter only to regain possession at its own 6-yard line.

It was nothing a dose of double-wing offense couldn’t overcome.

The Silverados responded with a marathon 17-play, 94-yard march capped off by Eric Henry’s 27-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Ross that ended a scoreless stalemate and lifted Calais-Woodland to a 12-0 victory over previously unbeaten Stearns in an LTC Class C football matchup at Alumni Field.

“These guys are one of the top competitors in the conference,” said Calais-Woodland tight end Cal Shorey, “and to beat them is an exciting thing. We’re really stoked.”

The game was originally scheduled for Saturday in Calais but was postponed until Monday night due to weather and moved to Millinocket because Calais’ field isn’t lighted.

The go-ahead drive, which spanned 7 minutes, 52 seconds, featured a 22-yard pass from designated long passer Eddie Flaherty to Shorey near midfield that led to Henry’s touchdown pass on a fourth-and-7 play.

The senior quarterback faked an inside handoff and spotted Ross behind two defenders in the right flat. Ross made the catch and raced into the end zone to give the Silverados a 6-0 lead with 4:31 left in the fourth quarter.

“We haven’t had a good history of throwing,” said Henry. “It was a play-action pass and he ran a post-corner, and I saw Kevin wide open so I just threw the ball and he caught it and did a great job running it in.”

“The whole game those plays were kind of open,” added Ross, “and when he first threw it I was a little bit nervous, but I was clear of the defense and just ran it in.”

The win was the second straight for coach Ian Pratt’s club which, at the midpoint of its first varsity season, finds itself at 2-2 and right in the mix for one of the LTC’s eight playoff spots.

And while the previous week’s first-ever victory over the second-year team at Mount View of Thorndike represented a milestone, this one may have represented a coming of age.

“This is going to be huge to build on,” said senior fullback Blake Ford, who rushed for 187 yards on 24 carries and added an insurance touchdown on a 71-yard run with 1:37 left in the game. “This is probably the biggest game I’ve ever won.”

Stearns (3-1) came into the contest on a high of its own, not having allowed a point in regulation play while getting off to its best start in five years.

And the Minutemen, led by linebacker Cory Barnett, remained resolute defensively, but in this case with a bend-but-not-break attitude as Calais-Woodland controlled the clock and the football.

With Ford and sophomore Cam Shorey (16 carries, 71 yards) leading the way, the Silverados outrushed Stearns 281-96 and outgained the Minutemen 361-186 in total yards.

“Blake in the first half really opened up the outside, and we had a balanced game in the second half,” said Cam Shorey, who also credited the offensive line work of center Jordan McLellan, tackles Nathan Phelps and D.J. Osborne and guards Flaherty and Jacob Sterner.

Yet Calais-Woodland couldn’t cash in on that advantage until the final quarter.

“I knew it wasn’t going to be a blowout either way, said Ford, “that it was going to go right down to the end, and we just played as hard as we could. We weren’t giving up, there was no way, and we won’t give up for the rest of the season.”

Calais-Woodland’s defense was equally stout, with linebackers Ford and Flaherty clogging up the middle, Cam Shorey and Cal Shorey each recording sacks of Stearns quarterback Jared McGreevy, and Greg Jackson intercepting two passes.

Stearns got inside the Calais 40-yard line just twice, and managed just one first down after intermission.

“We had watched their game film over and over and over and over, and we knew every play they ran,” said Flaherty. “Our key was knowing where they were going and putting muscle on muscle. They don’t run trick, they don’t run spread, they run muscle, and we muscled them.”

Kurt Hamilton rushed nine times for 39 yards for Stearns.

eclark@bangordailynews.net

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SILVERADOS 12, MINUTEMEN 0

Calais-Wood. (2-2) 0 0 0 12 – 12

Stearns (3-1) 0 0 0 0 – 0

C-W – Ross 27 pass from Henry (rush failed)

C-W – Ford 71 run (rush failed)

Calais Stearns

First downs 15 6

Rushing att.-yards 54-281 30-96

Passing comp.-att. 4-10 3-9

Passing yards 80 40

Total yards 361 136

Punts-avg. 1-22 5-36.2

Fumbles-lost 3-1 2-1

Intercepted by 2 0

Penalties-yards 5-35 2-10

Rushing

Calais-Woodland: Ford 24-187, Shorey 16-71, Ross 4-11, Henry 9-10, Flaherty 1-2; Stearns: Hamilton 9-35, Barnett 8-18, McGreevy 7-17, Osborne 4-15, Levasseur 2-11

Passing

Calais-Woodland: Flaherty 3-7-0-53, Henry 1-2-0-27, Ford 0-1-0-0; Stearns: McGreevy 3-9-2-40

Receiving

Calais-Woodland: Cam Shorey 1-31, Ross 1-27, Cal Shorey 1-22, Ford 1-0; Stearns: Levasseur 1-17, Cyr 1-12, Barnett 1-11

A- 300 (est.)