BRUNSWICK — Top-ranked Brunswick gave up an early score, then dominated the rest of the way Friday night to capture the Eastern Class B football championship with a 48-19 victory against Lawrence.

The Dragons (9-1) advanced to the Class B state title game Nov. 22 at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland against the winner of Saturday’s Western Maine final between Marshwood and York.

The running combination of Will Bessey and Alex Bandouveres again proved instrumental for the Dragons, who were in their second straight regional final. A year ago they lost to Cony.

Bessey and Bandouveres both scored two touchdowns in a well-balanced offense. Quarterback Thomas Hanson threw a touchdown pass and snuck in for a score. Cam Berry scored on an 8-yard run.

“I thought we played a very physical game,” said Coach Dan Cooper. “Lawrence seemed to know where we were going to run but they couldn’t stop it.”

Bessey was effective running off tackle, then cutting back.

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“That’s been our bread-and- butter play all season,” said Cooper. “Our guards did a great job pulling and blocking. They’ve been doing that all year.”

It was Brunswick’s first regional football title since 2003, when it was in Class A. That season the Dragons lost to Deering in the state final.

Brunswick’s rallying cry all season has been “Why not us?” That was yelled in the celebration and then an assistant coach said, “Well, it is us.”

The Dragons had beaten Lawrence late in the regular season 34-14, but the Bulldogs took a 6-0 lead on a 15-yard run by Cole Robinson.

Brunswick came back on its opening series and took a 7-6 lead on Bessey’s 4-yard run. The key play was a pass from Hanson to Bandouveres for 16 yards on fourth-and-4 from the 29. The Dragons scored on their next series as Hanson ran in from the 1 to make it 14-6.

Lawrence showed some resolve by responding when quarterback Cody Martin found wide receiver Dustin Simpson-Bragg behind the secondary, the play going for 72 yards and a touchdown that cut it to 14-13 .

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But it was all Brunswick after that: The Dragons scored the next 34 points.

After Lawrence trimmed it to 14-13, Bessey ran for 53 yards on second down. On the next play, he scored from the 8.

Brunswick’s defense pressured the Bulldogs throughout. Unable to run, the Bulldogs were forced to throw. They had some early success but not much the rest of the game.

“We forced them into several third down and long situations,” said Cooper.

Bessey scored on an 8-yard run to make it 28-13 and Bandouveres scored on a short run to make it 35-13 at the half.

Bandouveres capped his team’s scoring when he picked off a pass and went 22 yards.

“It was a team effort,” he said. “Everyone contributed.”


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