In the end, a dreadful start proved just too much for the Capers to overcome.

Down 16 points less than 13 minutes into the game, Cape battled back to cut its deficit to three early in the fourth quarter, but Mountain Valley answered with a 10-play touchdown drive to secure a 28-19 victory in Saturday’s Western Maine Class B football championship at Hosmer Field in Rumford.

Cape (9-2) accrued negative yards and fell victim to a pair of safeties in the opening quarter, which gave the Falcons (11-0) great early field position, allowing them to score on touchdown drives of 22 and 27 yards to take a 16-0 lead with 11:03 to go in the second quarter.

On a dark, dreary, drizzly day – one not conducive to Cape’s high-octane passing attack – it was not the start the Capers were looking for. Mountain Valley, with its bruising backfield duo of seniors Justin Staires and Matt Laubauskas, can grind out first downs and eat up clock as well as any team in the state. And the Falcons’ suffocating defense hadn’t allowed more than eight points in a game all season.

While Mountain Valley – which defeated Cape 34-6 two weeks ago in the regular-season finale – did end up with its third straight regional title and fourth in five years, it did not come easy, as the Capers outplayed the Falcons for much of the final three quarters.

Junior Tommy Foden broke a run outside and tiptoed down the left sideline for a 42-yard touchdown scamper with 9:13 to go in the second quarter, capping a five-play, 61-yard drive and making it 16-6.

“We didn’t come out very strong,” Foden said. “They came out real strong. We just got ourselves back together and regrouped. The cutback was there big time in the second quarter in the run game. We figured that out. It was there one time in the middle of the second quarter and I took it. Then it was there like every other run because they over-pursued.”

After being held to minus-7 yards on four carries in the first quarter – including a three-yard loss for a safety that made it 2-0 just over seven minutes in – Foden ended up with 111 yards on 21 carries and two touchdowns. He also caught two passes for 39 yards and a TD.

“Getting back into it was just getting good field position, executing and not making mistakes,” said Cape coach Aaron Filieo. “In that first quarter, we just made too many mistakes and got in a hole and you just can’t do that. On a day like today you can’t do it and against a team like that you can’t do it.”

Mountain Valley went ahead 22-6 with 6:21 to go in the first half when Staires took the snap on fourth-and-12 at the Cape 26 and connected with Travis Ruff in the end zone on a scoring toss.

Cape’s next drive started at its own 37 with a 15-yard run by Foden. It ended seven plays later when quarterback Ezra Wolfinger hit Foden on a 36-yard TD strike, making it 22-12 with three minutes left in the half.

Foden leapt to intercept Cam Kaubris’ pass on the Falcons’ next possession, but hardly had time to land before he was hit straight on by all 224 pounds of Laubauskas. Foden managed to hold on to the ball, but left the field holding his shoulder. He did not return in the final moments of the second quarter and received treatment on the sidelines into halftime, but put his pads back on and was one the field to start the second half.

After three punts to start the half – two by Mountain Valley and one by Cape – the Capers embarked on a long drive spanning two quarters and more than eight minutes. A penalty pushed them back to their own 10 with 3:54 left in the third. Seventeen plays and 90 yards later, Foden charged in from three yards out. Matt Donovan’s kick made it 22-19 with 7:47 left in the game.

Fullback Matt Weiss kept the drive alive with a six-yard gain on third-and-five from Cape’s own 27 and again on a four-yard carry on fourth-and-one from the Mountain Valley 15. He carried twice more to get the Capers down to the 3.

“Our game plan was not to run our fullback Matt Weiss, but that’s what I love about sports and I love about football,” said Filieo. “You get here and you never know. You go with what works and that kid was running like I’ve never seen him run before. He literally got us that touchdown to get us within three.”

Weiss finished 42 yards on eight carries.

Long drives are something the Falcons usually inflict on an opponent, but, for once, they were the recipients.

“Cape Elizabeth played the best football I’ve seen them play all year,” said Mountain Valley coach Jim Aylward. “I’ve got to be honest, they did some things we knew they were going to do that we couldn’t stop. They were taking (offensive lineman Nate) Lavallee and putting him at the point of attack and we still had a hard time stopping them. Tommy Foden’s a great back.”

But the Falcons’ response showed why they remain the class of Class B West. Taking over at their own 38, they put the game away with a lengthy drive of their own, using 10 straight running plays – keyed by Laubauskas’ carries of 15 and 25 yards – to cover 62 yards. Kaubris scored on a one-yard keeper for the game’s final points with 2:29 left.

“No only did we have to have (that drive), our backs are against the wall,” Aylward said. “We got punched in the face. I don’t think people realized we had a hard time keeping Matt (Laubauskas) and Justin (Staires) in the game in the second half. When we were getting ready to take over on that last possession, I wasn’t sure either one of them was going to be in the backfield. Justin had a banged-up hand. Matt, when you throw yourself at a brick wall a hundred times a game like he does, you’re always banged up.”

Staires finished with 139 yards on 22 carries. Laubauskas picked up 102 yards on 19 carries.

The first safety came shortly after Cape held Mountain Valley on fourth-and-goal from the 1. After a short gain and an incompletion, Foden was met by a slew of defenders in the backfield on third down. He tried to get out of the end zone, but the referee ruled the ball did not make it past the goal line when his knee went down. On the ensuing free kick, John Gorham’s 40-yard return set the Falcons up at the Cape 22. Five plays later, Kaubris found Travis Ruff on a six-yard touchdown toss. The kick failed and Mountain Valley led 8-0 with 2:45 left in the opening period.

Cape stalled on its next series. A sack made it fourth-and-18 from the Cape 18 and Wolfinger went back to punt. The snap sailed over his head and he chased it down and fell on it in the end zone for a safety, making it 10-0 with 37 seconds left in the first.

The Falcons returned the free kick to the Cape 27. Four straight rushes by Staires, the final one a seven-yard TD carry, made it 16-0 with 11:03 to go in the first half.

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