SOUTH BERWICK – Marshwood quarterback Cameron Roll heard the comments from friends in nearby communities.

“Lucky,” he said, is how Marshwood’s season was described.

Well, the Hawks dispelled any doubts in Saturday’s showdown with Westbrook for the top spot in Western Class B.

Rolling behind an unstoppable and overpowering running game, Marshwood scored the final 20 points to beat the Blue Blazes, 40-20.

The Hawks rolled up 344 rushing yards and another 40 passing to finish the regular season in style.

“It was a real big game for us,” said Roll. “There was a big vibe that everyone felt that these games we’ve been winning were lucky. So just to come here and win by a substantial amount, it’s good to know that other teams now know it’s not some fluke.”

The Hawks (7-1) likely secured the top spot in the region. Westbrook (6-2) entered the game at No. 1.

Dan Lizotte led Marshwood’s running game with 132 yards and a touchdown, and Brett Gerry had 118 yards and two scores. Roll ran for two touchdowns and passed for another, to Noah Kreider.

“They made the plays that determined the ballgame,” said Westbrook Coach Jeff Guerrette. “If you break down this game, there were probably 10 plays that determined its outcome. And Marshwood made more of them.”

Westbrook, down 12-0 less than five minutes into the game, was stopped 6 inches shy of a touchdown to end the first half. But the Blazes came back to make it 20-20 on a 12-yard run by Ben Grant (and conversion pass from Kyle Heath to Collin Joyce) on the opening drive of the third quarter.

Then the Hawks took over.

Getting the ball on its 6 following a penalty on the kickoff, Marshwood kept the ball the rest of the third quarter, moving 94 methodical yards to go ahead on a 1-yard sneak by Roll.

Roll scrambled 8 yards for a first down on third-and-8 from the Marshwood 20 to keep the drive going. The Hawks got a big hand from a facemask penalty against Westbrook that wiped out a big loss. But Roll, Lizotte, Gerry and Nick Janes continually found holes to run through — and then finished with some powerful hits of their own.

“That’s when we started to get our heads into the game,” said Gerry. “And we started to execute.”

It carried over to the defense. Gerry ended Westbrook’s next drive when he sacked Heath for a 6-yard loss on third-and-4.

Marshwood went in for another touchdown, Gerry running 22 yards, and it was 34-20 with 9:24 left.

Marshwood’s defense rose up with two more sacks, one by Eric Pratt, the other by Gerry (on fourth-and-15) to get the ball back.

Roll ran 26 yards for a touchdown, faking the ball inside to Lizotte and then carrying untouched around left end for the clinching score that made it 40-20 with 4:11 left.

“We’re just trying to keep playing as long as we can,” Hawks Coach Alex Rotsko said. “This was a very big game for us. We approached it as a playoff game.”

Staff Writer Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at:

mlowe@pressherald.com

Twitter: MikeLowePPH