BUCKSPORT – An emotional postgame hug between Warren Chase, one of Saturday’s LTC Class C championship heroes, and Dave Milan, Chase’s Pop Warner football coach, perfectly illustrated what these games are all about.

“This is what we talked about all those years ago! This is what you worked for, and now you’ve got it,” Milan said as he wrapped Chase up in a big bear hug and the tears of joy began flowing freely.

Chase, who scored the tying touchdown in overtime, was too choked up to say much in return, so he just smiled at his former coach. It was a perfect moment in the midst of celebratory chaos and jubilation on the Carmichael Field turf as Bucksport players, coaches, cheerleaders and fans whooped and shouted themselves hoarse in the wake of a pulse-pounding 14-13 overtime victory over Foxcroft Academy.

The 10-1 Golden Bucks will try to win their first gold ball since 1983 when they play West champ Boothbay in a 1 p.m. state game at Cony High’s field in Augusta next Saturday. Foxcroft finishes 8-3.

“I don’t know if it can get any better than this, but next Saturday we’ll find out,” said kicker Trevor LaLonde, whose extra-point kick gave the Bucks the winning edge.

The Bucks haven’t played in a state game since 1988, when they were still in Class B.

With the light beginning to dim and the temperature starting to dip noticeably, the Bucks and Ponies headed into OT to break a 7-7 tie. Bucksport won the coin toss and elected to defend in the first series as each team is given four downs to score from the 10-yard line.

After a three-yard rush by Josh Sands, fullback Derek Morong gained six yards on a run up the middle before scoring on a one-yard run up the middle to make it 13-7 FA. Danny White lined up and took the extra point kick, but Bucksport got penetration and junior defensive tackle Mike Dargon shot through to block the kick.

“We lined up and one of their guys said he’s got me, he’s got me, and I knew he was going to come right at me so I just got myself sideways on him,” Dargon said. “I went inside, ran in, and got it with my left palm. My hand was hurting like hell, but it was great.”

The play energized the Bucks as they took over on offense. Rustin Ames gained five yards on two carries to set up third-and-goal from the 5. Bucks coach Joel Sankey called for the arrow.

“It’s a play that I learned from John Huard when I was down at Maine Maritime Academy,” said Sankey. “We had one receiver go to the corner and the other ran a slant with Warren coming underneath the coverage.”

The result was a touchdown as Chase caught the perfectly lofted pass from Chris McHale at the 1 and lunged into the end zone as a defender tried to bring him down.

“I just didn’t want to throw an interception there because the season would’ve ended,” said McHale.

The rest was up to LaLonde and the blockers in front of him. The blockers did their job and so did he as his kick sailed high over the middle of the uprights.

“I wasn’t really nervous about that one,” said LaLonde, who had a 20-yard field goal attempt blocked and was short on a 26-yard attempt earlier in the game. “It’s just a routine kick and I knew the guys would come through for me.”

The Bucks took the lead early in the game via an 11-play, 60-yard drive capped by Chase’s two-yard TD run and leap over a pile of linemen in the middle.

Foxcroft regrouped after failing to score despite a first-and-goal from the B-4 just before halftime.

After yielding 126 rushing yards, Foxcroft gave up only 76 in the second half and evened things up on the scoreboard with a nine-play, 65-yard drive Morong ended with a one-yard TD run. White’s PAT kick tied it with 5:07 left to play.

The Bucks threatened again 41/2 minutes later as they drove from their own 24 to the FA-25 in five plays, but Morong’s sack of McHale with no time left ended the threat.

“They couldn’t stop us, really. We ended up stopping ourselves. We had them on the ropes, but we just couldn’t push them over,” Foxcroft coach Paul Withee said. “They had to resort to throwing the ball, something we didn’t think they could do to beat us, but the McHale kid delivered when they needed him to.”

So did Chase, who sat out most of the third quarter with an aggravated knee injury, but returned to gain 21 of his 66 rushing yards and get both of his receptions for 14 yards in the last 16 minutes.

“They told me to stay out until the pain went away, but I had to come back in,” said Chase. “I didn’t want to let my teammates down.”

GOLDEN BUCKSa 14, PONIES 13 (OT)

Foxcroft (8-3) 0 0 0 7 6 ?13

Bucks (10-1) 0 7 0 0 7 ?14

B ? Chase 2 run (LaLonde kick)

FA ? Morong 1 run (White kick)

FA ? Morong 1 run (kick blocked)

B ? Chase 5 pass from McHale (LaLonde kick)

Foxcroft Academy Bucksport

First downs 14 13

Rushing att.-yards 42-134 49-202

Passing comp.-att. 5-10 6-9

Passing yards 146 84

Total yards 280 286

Punts-avg. 4-34.5 4-24.8

Fumbles-lost 3-3 3-1

Intercepted by 1 0

Penalties-yards 7-55 4-29

Rushing

Foxcroft Academy: White 9-52, Morong 12-42, Sands 15-32, Robinson 2-13, Withee 4-(-5); Bucksport: Chase 7-66, Woodman 12-52, Ames 15-50, McHale 9-18, Harvey 6-16

Passing

Foxcroft Academy: Withee 4-9-0-122, Sands 1-1-0-24; Bucksport: McHale 6-8-1-84, Chase 0-1-0-0

Receiving

Foxcroft Academy: Imbert 2-64, White 2-61, Sands 1-21; Bucksport: Rock 2-40, Harvey 1-17, Chase 2-14, Sullivan 1-13

A? 800 (est.)