Scarborough 12

Sanford 7

The wet conditions on Friday night at Cobb Stadium hindered an effective passing attack, so Sanford and visiting Scarborough decided the game on the ground.

“It was an old-fashioned slugfest,” said Sanford coach Mike Fallon.

Scarborough scored a fourth-quarter touchdown then stopped a Sanford drive deep in Red Storm territory in the game’s final minute to pull out a 12-7 win and improve to 2-0, while the Redskins dropped to 0-2. There were a total of three completions in the game and all three touchdowns came on the ground.

Brendan Ham’s six-yard TD carry in the fourth put Scarborough up for good. The Red Storm found itself with the ball in good field position after the Redskins fumbled a punt.

Ham carried the ball 23 times for 69 yards to lead the Red Storm rushers. Sanford’s Shawn Goodrich picked up 101 yards on 14 carries, including a five-yard TD run near the end of the third quarter. Mike Plante’s extra point put the Redskins up 7-6 entering the fourth.

The Red Storm scored its first touchdown on quarterback Kyle Kelley’s 1-yard keeper in the first quarter to cap a short drive that began after the block of a Sanford punt.

“We thought there was an opportunity to go after a punt and set the tone early,” said Scarborough coach Dave Sterling. “We wanted to set an aggressive tone.”

Scarborough ran 37 times for 114 yards, but did not have a rush longer than eight yards. Kelley completed one pass, for 10 yards to Colin O’Connor.

Fallon was very pleased with his young team’s defensive effort after the Redskins allowed seven touchdowns and a number of big plays to Thornton Academy in their opener, a 49-6 loss.

“Defensively, we improved a ton from a week before,” Fallon said. “Offensively, we had our moments. There were a lot of positives to build on. Hopefully this is the start of us being competitive.”

Sanford’s Aaron Marshall was in on 13 tackles, and also had a forced fumble and fumble recovery. Jordan Wears was in on 10 tackles, including seven solo tackles. Jon Anatra was in on eight tackles and recovered a fumble.

The Redskins rushed for 161 yards on 28 carries. Redskins quarterback Ryan Legere carried nine times for 65 yards. He was 2-for-9 passing for 56 yards, 52 of them coming on a completion to Plante.

For Scarborough, which started the season with an 11-8 win over Biddeford, Phil Christian led the way defensively with nine tackles. Garrett Alofs had two interceptions (and now has four on the season) and knocked down Legere’s pass near the goal line on Sanford’s fourth-and-15 play from the Scarborough 24 in the game’s final minute. Sean Northgraves also had an interception for the Red Storm.

The Red Storm is scheduled to take on Thornton Academy – which has outscored its opponents 104-6 in two games – at home at 7 p.m. on Friday night.

Sanford will look to pick up its first win at Marshwood at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Copy the Story Link