OAKLAND

Brunswick High School coach Dan Cooper said prior to Friday night’s important Eastern Maine Class A football clash at Messalonskee that his team needed to play physical, and avoid mistakes.

Brunswick certainly played physical, and kept the mistakes down enough to earn a hard-fought 13-12 triumph. The outcome leaves both teams with 5-1 conference records, and keeps the Dragons in contention for a home playoff game.

To secure the win, the Dragons, scheduled to visit Oxford Hills this Friday night, twice had to stave off Messalonskee drives down the stretch. The second one ended as the Eagles hurried to line up for a play in the Brunswick end, but the clock expired.

For Cooper and his team, it was mission accomplished.

“They’re used to moving people around,” Cooper said. “But we didn’t let them do that. We played physical.”

Chapin LaBelle, Messalonskee’s interim coach, concurred.

“They were tough up front,” LaBelle said. “We knew they were going to be. It was the first team we’ve seen this year that wanted to punch us in the mouth, and they came in here and did that.”

One could point to any number of plays that made the difference in this one, including Adam Casey’s point-after kick that gave Brunswick its 13-12 lead with 8:27 remaining in the third quarter.

Tackle Alex Bandouveres had pounced on a fumble in the endzone to tie it. That situation was made possible by Jason Carter’s perfect coffin corner punt, which rolled out of bounds on the M-2.

Fast-forward to late in the fourth quarter with Messalonskee facing a fourth-and-8 from its own 48.

Josh Woodard led Devin Warren with a pass down the left sideline, and Warren had his hands around it for what could have been a first down at around the B-30. But Jared Jensen put a hit on Warren, jarring the ball loose.

“Jared doesn’t make that play, they were in business,” Cooper said.

The Eagles gave the ball up on downs, and the Dragons were in good shape with just 1:33 to play. They couldn’t pick up a first down, however, and punted.

Messalonskee got to the B-42 on a pass to Corey McKenzie, but the clock ran out just as they lined up for the snap.

Great win for Dragons

It was a great win for Brunswick, which was coming off a 34-7 loss to Cony. It was also just the second Brunswick win over Messalonskee in their last eight meetings.

Messalonskee, unscored-upon in its previous two games, just couldn’t have its way against the Brunswick line, led by big two-way tackle Josh Thibeault.

“They couldn’t move him,” Cooper said.

Jensen, nursing a bruised thigh from a hit he took in the Cony game, wasn’t 100 percent. The star running back, who had been averaging nearly 300 yards per game, got 80 on 21 carries. Cooper often went to Lucas McCue, who filled in nicely.

The first half was a battle of field position. The Eagles struck first when Josh Woodard found Ryan Fecteau all alone for a 12-yard touchdown pass with 2:26 left in the first quarter.

Brunswick stuck exclusively with its running game in the first quarter, and Carter threw only three times in the second. The third one, though, was a beauty, taking the Messalonskee defense totally by surprise. Carter, using play-action, found Nolan Robbins alone down the left sideline for a 44-yard scoring strike. With 2:21 remaining in the half, it was tied 6-6 and that’s the way it remained at halftime.

By that time, the Brunswick defense was becoming successful in pressuring Woodard.

The teams took turns scoring on big plays in the third quarter.

Messalonskee struck immediately, on Warren’s 94-yard kickoff return. Warren bounced off a Brunswick tackler at around his own 30, broke to the right and was free.

The Dragons were forced to punt after the ensuing series, and that’s when Carter came up big.