WINDHAM — It wasn’t exactly Moses at the banks of the Red Sea, but Windham linebacker Zach Davis suddenly found himself in an unusual position in the midst of a muddy football game Friday night.

One minute he was part of a scrum attempting to deny first-down yardage to Bonny Eagle running back Matt Smith.

“Next thing I knew,” Davis said, “the ball ended up in my hands and the field opened up in front of me.”

While players on both teams continued to struggle against each other near the left hashmark, Davis peeled away and scampered practically unnoticed into the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown run that effectively sealed Windham’s 26-6 victory over the defending Class A state champions.

The victory assured Windham (7-1) of a playoff bye. Bonny Eagle (5-3) will await the outcome of Saturday’s Portland-South Portland game before learning its fate.

Both teams entered the contest seeded second in their respective regions – Windham in the East and Bonny Eagle in the West.

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“We’ve got a lot of stuff we’ve got to work on,” said Bonny Eagle quarterback Zach Dubiel, whose 7-yard touchdown pass to Dillon Reynolds in the final minute averted a shutout. “Playoffs are a whole new season for us.”

Friday’s game turned on two plays in the third quarter after Windham had taken a 3-0 lead into halftime thanks to a 25-yard first-quarter field goal by Josh Dugas.

Windham took the second-half kickoff and drove into Bonny Eagle territory before stalling at the 28, needing eight yards on fourth down. A looping pass into double coverage was easily broken up to seemingly turn the ball over on downs, but Bonny Eagle was flagged for pass interference early in the in-and-out pass pattern to give Windham a first down at the 13.

Kyle Houser immediately broke through left tackle for a touchdown run and Dugas booted the point after for a 10-0 lead.

Less than a minute later, Davis yanked the ball free from Smith, had it settle in his arms and ran for the touchdown that made it 16-0.

“It was sloppy out there and obviously slippery,” Davis said. “A couple of our D-line guys had him stood up and I saw the opportunity to strip the ball. I pulled it out, it kind of bobbled off some people and then landed in my arms.”

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The Scots, still reeling from the fourth-down penalty, found the game pinwheeling out of control.

“It was a tough call,” Bonny Eagle Coach Kevin Cooper said. “We didn’t think it was pass interference, but we don’t make the decisions on what are flags and what aren’t flags. We’ve got to deal with that and come up and stop them again.”

Windham forced a quick punt and immediately drove 48 yards for another score, a quarterback sneak by Desmond Leslie set up by a 32-yard run by Griffin Jacobson and aided by a defensive holding penalty. The kick from Dugas made it 23-0 late in the third.

“Certainly, those plays turned the game around,” Cooper said. “It went from 3-0 with us getting the ball to 16-0 and now it’s to the point where it’s going to be tough for us to win.”

Dugas added another field goal, from 26 yards, midway through the fourth to make it 26-0. The Scots put together a scoring drive of 72 yards on their final possession, with a second-effort run of 31 yards by Smith the big play that set up Dubiel’s touchdown pass to Reynolds with 25 seconds left.

Houser finished with 136 yards on 23 carries after being held to only 29 yards in the first half. Jacobson carried 11 times for 85 yards.

Windham held Dubiel to 64 yards on 17 carries and Smith to 60 yards on 14. Dubiel managed to complete 6 of 11 passes for 45 yards.

But the game’s biggest run came from a defensive player who didn’t touch the ball until the play seemed nearly over.

“Smart, headsy football play,” said Windham Coach Matt Perkins. “Zach’s a big, physical kid. He just snagged it and went.”


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