SCARBOROUGH — Since beating South Portland in double overtime four weeks ago, the Scarborough football team has found a second gear. And that gear just might take it deep into the Western Class A playoffs.

Scarborough cleared its first hurdle with a 45-19 win over Biddeford Friday night in the quarterfinals.

Next is a trip to Standish next week to face No. 1 Bonny Eagle.

The fourth-seeded Red Storm (6-3) were impressive from start to finish. They spread the offense around with quarterback Ben Greenberg directing it.

“Ben has grown into the position,” said Scarborough Coach Lance Johnson. “He’s more comfortable running and passing. We spread the ball around nicely.”

Greenberg, in his first full season as the starter, passed for two touchdowns and ran for one. Brendon Smith caught two scoring passes, and Dan LeClair and Zach Carriero each ran for two scores.

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Fifth-seeded Biddeford (4-5) trailed just 20-6 late in the first half before the Red Storm scored twice in the final 1:08 to take a 33-6 halftime lead.

After the Tigers pulled within 20-6 on Corey Creeger’s 53-yard reception from Casey Twomey, Greenberg passed down the right side to Smith, who went 60 yards for a touchdown to make it 26-6.

The Red Storm then stopped the Tigers and quickly moved downfield. Greenberg passed for 20 and 24 yards to Chris Cyr.

After the Red Storm called a timeout with 9.6 seconds remaining in the half, Greenberg ran right on first down, then cut back and reached the end zone with 0.6 seconds left. Cameron Langlois booted the point after to make it 33-6.

“We have a lot of guys who can make plays,” said Greenberg, an outstanding pitcher who is headed to Fordham on a baseball scholarship. “They just open things up for me. I have to give credit to both the offensive and defensive lines. The O-line opened some big holes and the D-line shut down Biddeford’s running game. The South Portland game definitely gave us a lot of confidence.”

Carriero scored his touchdowns in the second half. The first one was on a 7-yard run at the start of the fourth quarter and the second was a 9-yard run with just over five minutes remaining.

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The Tigers got touchdowns from Chhay Ouch on a 2-yard run and from Twomey on a 10-yard run with 2:13 left in the game.

Biddeford was a little unlucky in the first half. With the score 7-0 in the first quarter, it looked like the Tigers had scored the tying touchdown when Twomey passed to Corey Brown on a 60-yard play. But Brown went out of bounds on his pattern, nullifying the score.

In the second quarter, the Tigers got to the Scarborough 6 but on a first-down running play, Cyr, at linebacker, stripped the ball from Creeger with the Red Storm taking over at the 10.

Scarborough then drove 90 yards in 12 plays, capped by LeClair’s 20-yard run to make it 20-0.

Biddeford couldn’t run against Scarborough’s aggressive defense but did have success passing, especially in the middle and the flat.

The Red Storm beat Biddeford 41-21 in the regular season. That game was close for a half; this one wasn’t.

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“We have guys who like to make plays,” said Greenberg. “I like to run the ball.”

Johnson said Greenberg has been a proficient runner right from the start of the season, but his passing has improved steadily. Everyone knew he had a strong arm coming in, but he has added finesse on his throws.

 

Tom Chard can be reached at 791-6419 or at:

tchard@pressherald.com

Twitter: TomChardPPH


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