The halftime fireworks for Gorham’s homecoming were a nice touch, but they paled in comparison to Jon Day’s on-field rushing display.

The Rams senior fullback ran wild on Friday night, carrying 25 times for 264 yards and four touchdowns, of 47, 13, 3 and 44 yards.

Day’s big night was enough to lift Gorham to its first win of the year, 34-24 over visiting Westbrook. The Rams are now 1-3. The tough luck continues for the Blue Blazes, who dropped to 0-4.

“Credit the line,” Day said humbly after the game. “That’s all them. I see a hole and I do what I can, but they make it, so it’s all them.”

Gorham came out throwing the ball, but, after an incompletion and an interception returned for a touchdown on the opening drive, kept it on the ground for 47 of its final 48 plays. The Rams totaled 392 rushing yards, with Kamron Alexander running for 87 yards on 13 carries and Stephen Verrill adding 40 yards on 10 carries.

“We played pretty much mistake-free football tonight, and that’s what really helped us,” Day said. “We had a lot of young guys step up. Connor Walker, a good running back, was out sick today and we didn’t really know coming into it how we were going to do without him, and Kam Alexander did well, stepping up, getting some runs, and our linemen stepped up as always.”

The night started off poorly for the Rams, as Westbrook’s Manny Vincent picked off a pass by Gorham quarterback Kyle Butterfield on the third play from scrimmage and took it 35 yards for the score. The conversion – like the Blazes’ three later two-point tries – failed, and it was 6-0 just 54 seconds into the game.

But Gorham responded with a five-play, 59-yard drive that Alexander finished off with an 11-yard TD run to even the score at 6-6 (the conversion failed) with 9:12 left in the opening quarter.

Westbrook countered with its own 52-yard drive that spanned more than three minutes. On the seventh play, quarterback Ollie Steele rolled left and found Eben Wintle all alone in the corner of the end zone for a 15-yard score to make it 12-6 with 5:53 left. Of the 10 Westbrook pass attempts in the game, that was the only one that went for positive yards.

With 3:08 left in the first quarter, Day broke a 47-yard scoring run. The conversion put Gorham on top 14-12.Westbrook had a 16-play drive stall at the Gorham 26 on its next possession, and five plays later Day again found the end zone on a 13-yard TD carry. He also had runs of 45 and 16 yards on the 74-yard drive and added the two-point conversion rush to make it 22-12 with 6:47 left in the half.

Steele’s 46-yard TD with 4:40 left cut the Blazes’ deficit to 22-18 heading into halftime, where the fans were treated to the pyrotechnic display, set off from a neighboring field.

Westbrook turned the ball over on a fumble on its first series of the second half and Gorham capitalized, covering 44 yards over 11 plays and five minutes. Day’s 3-yard score made it 28-18 with 4:10 left in the third.

The Blazes did not go away, however, as Matt Payne, who carried 19 times for 106 yards, surged through the middle and dashed 29 yards for a touchdown, making it 28-24 with 1:39 left in the third.

After stopping Gorham on a fourth-and-one deep at the Westbrook 21, the Blazes took over. They picked up two first downs, but a fourth-and-three play from the Gorham 47 came up a yard short. The Rams added an insurance score with 4:15 left as Day rumbled 44 yards for his fourth TD. He also converted a critical fourth-and-one play on the drive.

“He’s a tough runner,” said Westbrook coach Jeff Guerette. “He runs as hard as anyone in the league. He’s a tough tackle. He’s a very good football player.”

“Jon, the last couple weeks, has started to develop into a great leader for our program,” said Gorham coach Dave Kilborn. “He’s a great runner, someone who runs with a lot of tenacity, someone who’s proven he can run with anybody in the league. I’m very proud of his effort the last few weeks and especially tonight. When we needed that first down, when we needed to make a good run, he was there for us.”

The Rams outgained the Blazes on the ground, 392-311. The Blazes held a 14-9 edge in passing yards. For Westbrook, Vincent finished with 86 yards, while Steele ran for 63 and Tom Pratt picked up 48.

“Our kids hung in there,” Guerette said. “I thought we played better in the second half than we did in the first half. You’ve got to give a bunch of credit to the Gorham kids. They played fantastic tonight. I’ve got to do a better job of getting us ready. I’m disappointed for our kids.”

The effort and emotion exhibited by both teams made clear that, despite the records, neither Gorham nor Westbrook was ready to give up on the season.

“They came out and played their hearts out just like we did,” Day said. “They’re a good team. They hit as hard as anyone we’ve played. I tip my hat to those guys.”

While Westbrook remains in search of that elusive first win, Gorham hopes the victory is the first step toward righting the ship and putting together a strong second half of the season.

“We finally got a ‘W,'” Kilborn said on Friday night. “We go that off our back. We’ve got Scarborough next. We’ll come out tomorrow, clean up after the fireworks – that’s our job – then start preparing for Scarborough.”

The Rams host the winless Red Storm (0-4) at 7 p.m. on Friday, while Sanford (3-1) visits Westbrook for a game at the same time.

Gorham’s Jon Day acknowledges the cheers of the Gorham student section after scoring one of his four touchdowns in Friday night’s 34-24 homecoming victory for Gorham over Westbrook.
Staff photo by Tom Minervino

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