BATH

The Morse and Mt. Ararat high school football teams came into Friday night’s Eastern Maine Class B showdown with identical 3-4 records.

And, that’s where the similarities ended.

The visiting Eagles, riding the inside talents of Bru Abreu and the outside scampering of Devin Monteiro, put the finishing touches on their best regular season showing since 2002 with a 32-8 dismantling of a nicked-up Shipbuilder clan.

If the Crabtree Standings hold up, No. 7 Mt. Ararat will visit No. 2 Marshwood (6-2) and No. 8 Morse will travel to No. 1 Kennebunk (8-0) next week for quarterfinal tilts.

Morse coach Jason Darling called a timeout on just the second play from scrimmage to sort out his offense and things went downhill from there.

Abreu piled up 169 yards on 33 lugs with three TDs and four conversion runs, while Monteiro added 116 yards and a score.

Defensively, the Eagles handled Morse’s interior line and allowed just 79 net rushing yards and eight first downs.

Nick Graney paced the defense with 11 tackles, while Mike Tran had nine and James Stemp, Connor Reed and Dylan Johnson six each.

Trenton Moore led Morse with 76 yards on 14 carries, while Matt Belanger completed two passes for 71 yards.

“We’ve got guys dinged up, we’re trying to get healthy and we rose to the occasion,” coach Frank True told his charges. “It was great effort allaround.”

“We went with what we’ve been going with all year,” added True of his pregame strategy. “We lost one of our best running backs (Jordan Castonguay) and one of our guards/outside backers (Brandon Jusseaume) to injury, so we’ve been repping guys at different positions this week, just trying to get ready. The guys stepped up when it counted.”

Morse’s first possession didn’t get any better after Darling’s talk as a three-and-out gave Mt. Ararat its first drive at the MA-35.

Abreu ran six times for 29 yards and a nine-play drive ended with a 12-yard Monteiro scamper with 6:48 left in the opening period. Abreu’s conversion made it 8-0.

An Ali Fasalawi interception gave Morse the ball to open the second quarter, but a Graney sack of Belanger for a 12-yard loss on third down made for a punt and 18-yard return by Monteiro to the Mo-17.

On fourth-and-one on the Mo-8, Abreu scored at 3:39 and carried four tacklers into the endzone for the conversion and a 16-0 lead.

A 20-yard return by Jared Malcolm on the ensuing kickoff gave Morse great field position at the Mo-45, but the drive stalled on fourth-and-four when Moore came up one yard short thanks to a Johnson tackle.

With time running out in the second period, the Eagles stitched together a 12-play, five first-down drive, capped off by a 6-yard Abreu TD run at the buzzer. His 2-pointer made for a 22-0 halftime lead.

In that drive Mt. Ararat had nine runs of six yards or more.

“We rotated a lot of guys and tried to get a little more depth,” said Abreu. “We knew what we were looking at and we had an idea of what was coming at us.

“I’m kind of supertitous and I got a little worried, I guess,” he added of a late mini-Morse comeback. “It’s not over until it’s over. But, this team seems a lot more upbeat than in the past. We’ve got a lot more excitement and it seems that we have a bigger following in the school area, more kids are coming to the games.

“I don’t think we expected a playoff team, but I think we expect a few wins.”

In a scoreless third quarter Mt. Ararat went punt, punt and loss on downs, while Morse went fumble, incompleted pass.

Finally, Morse broke through to open the final quarter when Trenton Moore hauled in a swing pass and rambled 49 yards for the score with 17 ticks off the clock. Feeney added the conversion run.

The hosts jazzed up the game on the ensuing kickoff as Liam McDonough recovered a squib kick at the 50.

However, Moore’s desperation pass on fourth down was for naught.

“We were trying to do ball control,” explained True. “And, we didn’t execute the way we should have. They got some momentum, completed a couple of passes, and the next thing you know they put one in. They’re a good football team and they’re playing hard over there.

“And, I was glad with the way we responded to come back, get that score back and play tough ‘D’ the rest of the way.”

Beginning on their own 38, the Eagles moved steadily downfield, picking up four first downs to the Mo-19.

Despite a motion penalty, the Eagles scored four plays later on an Abreu 1- yarder on four-and-one. His conversion run made it 32-8 with 3:51 left in the game.

Mt. Ararat 32, Morse 8

Mt.Ararat16808—32
Morse 0008—8
First quarter
MA — Monteiro 12 run (Abreu conversion),
6:48.
Second quarter
MA — Abreu 8 run (Abreu conversion), 8:21
MA — Abreu 6 run (Abreu conversion), 0:00.
Fourth quarter
Mo — Moore 49 pass from Belanger (Feeney
conversion), 1:43.
MA — Abreu 9 run (Abreu conversion), 3:51.
Records — Mt. Ararat 4-4, Morse 3-5.
Up next for Mt. Ararat — At No. 2 Marshwood
(6-2) for Eastern Maine Class B quarterfinals.
Up next for Morse — At No. 1 Kennebunk (8-0)
for Eastern Maine Class B quarterfinals.