CUMBERLAND — Joey Spinelli’s 45-yard field goal with 1:30 remaining, put the Wells Warriors past the Greely Rangers 9-7 Friday night in Cumberland in a Western Maine Class B football game.

The forth down miracle boot wasn’t originally supposed to happen. With 14 yards to go for a first down, Wells coach Tim Roche asked Spinelli if he could kick it that far.

“Coach had trust in me. He asked me ”˜Can you make this?’ and I said I don’t know,” said Spinelli. “So he said, ”˜all right then we will pass it. After the time out I said ”˜I want the ball coach.’ I had faith in myself, but I was still worried about it.”

They lined up for a pass play and Greely’s coach called a time out to reset his defense. Wells then called another time out to prepare for the kick to win it.

“I went out to the huddle and at first (Spinelli) said he wasn’t sure. I came back out after calling another time out and he said ”˜Coach, I’ll make this right now.’ I said I trusted him,” said Roche.

The snap was clean and Jake Moody put the ball down as Spinelli drove his foot right through the ball. It started out left but just went in over the cross bar in the lower left-corner of the goal post.

“As the ball was in the air it started out way to the left. Then it started curling to the right. I wasn’t sure if it went through, but I could tell by everyone’s reactions it did.”

Both teams struggled to move the ball against the two top defenses in the conference, but special teams prevailed as Well’s continued to defend its state championship.

Greely scored on its first drive marching 64 yards down field, primarily on passing. James Ferrar then punched it in from 5 yards out for the score. The Ranger defense then held strong as it stopped Wells from scoring on short fields twice in the first half. Wells then found the end zone right before the half as it took advantage of its third straight possession from within Greely’s 35-yardline. The Warriors drove 17 yards, which set up a 3-yard run from Jake Moody for the score. A fumbled snap on the extra point attempt kept Wells’ score at six. At the half, Greely led 7-6.

“I give them credit defensively. They were unbelievable,” said Roche.

Both teams struggled to move the ball again in the second half as each traded punts to keep good field position. Early in the fourth quarter, Greely’s Svenn Jacobson intercepted a pass on an attempted screen. He ran the ball all the way down field to the Wells’ 8-yardline. After two run plays and a pass attempt, Greely tried to put more points on the board by kicking a field goal. The kick was low, though, and wells blocked the attempt. Wells’ next drive looked like it was sputtering again until a third and 2 pass play netted 50 yards and put the Warriors deep into Greely territory. Wells was called for two back-to-back illegal motion penalties moving it back a total of 10 yards. A run by Moody got the ball to the 29-yardline and set up the field goal.

The game wasn’t over yet as Greely still had 1:30 left on the clock for a chance. Greely marched down field on two passing plays for 45 yards and a run of 8 yards. But Spinelli sealed the game for Wells when he intercepted a pass in the end zone with 29 seconds remaining.

“I had a feeling they were going deep. They needed to get the ball in the end zone, so I wasn’t letting anyone get by. I just jumped up and caught it,” said Spinelli.

Wells will move on to travel to No. 1 Marshwood next week. It beat Marshwood earlier in the year 36-6 in Wells.

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