Portland scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter Saturday to pull out a 35-27 victory against Cheverus in a Class A North football game at Memorial Field.

Dylan Bolduc scored four touchdowns and rushed for more than 230 yards as the Bulldogs upped their record to 4-1 to take over the region’s top spot. The Stags dropped to 3-2.

“Both teams competed but they had a little bit more than we did at the end,” Cheverus Coach Mike Vance said. “It doesn’t taste very good right now but we’ll move forward and build on it.”

The game was scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. at Boulos Stadium, the Stags’ home field. But because of college entrance exams, the starting time was changed to 5:30 p.m. under the lights at Deering High.

Jack Casale threw two touchdown passes to his cousin, Dominic Casale, less than a minute apart to stake Cheverus to a 14-0 lead.

Less than five minutes into the game, Casale threw a 19-yard scoring pass into the right side of the end zone on a fourth-down play to cap a 10-play, 60-yard drive following the kickoff.

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After linebacker Nathan Dunn recovered a fumble on a third-down play, Casale tossed a 24-yard scoring pass to his cousin deep on the left side of the field.

The Bulldogs then ground out two short scoring drives to pull into a 14-14 tie.

With eight seconds left in the first quarter, Dylan Bolduc bulled his way in from the 1 to finish a seven-play, 29-yard drive after Kieran Conley intercepted a pass on the Portland 40.

Less than two minutes into the second quarter, Bolduc scored on a 3-yard run two plays after Vincent Pasquali returned a punt 49 yards to the 6.

With less than five minutes left in the second quarter, Griffin Watson scored on a 9-run to put the Stags back into the lead to cap a nine-play, 60-yard drive following the kickoff.

“They got us in the first half with some things we didn’t expect,” Portland Coach Jim Hartman said. “We made some adjustments on (defense) and we made an adjustment on offense, and we were off the races.”

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The Stags took a 27-14 lead less than seven minutes into the second half when Rylan Benedict scored on a 9-yard run 10 plays after Christian Gilliam recovered a Portland fumble at the Cheverus 45.

Bolduc scored on a 5-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter to cap a 13-play, 65-yard drive following the kickoff.

With nine minutes left, Bolduc scored on a 15-yard run two plays after Vincent Pasquali returned his second interception of the game 49 yards to give Portland the lead for the first time.

Bolduc set up the Buldogs’ final touchdown with a 56-yard run. Quarterback Issiah Bachelder sneaked in from the 1 with two minutes remaining.


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