The scoring kept coming, but it was two big second half defensive stops on fourth down that turned the tide as Cony (8-2) left Brunswick (7-3) with a 48-38 victory and its first trip to a state title game, which will take place this upcoming Friday at the University of Maine in Orono.
The Rams will face Western B champ Kennebunk (11- 0), a 41-14 winner over Marshwood in the Western B final on Saturday.
Lucas threw for 353 yards, completing 25-of-42 passes, along with five touchdown strikes to set a record for most TD passes in a high school career with 86, surpassing Winthrop’s Lee St. Hilaire’s total of 84.
On the other side, Brunswick rushed for 471 yards on 56 carries, led by Lucas McCue (21 rushes, 184 yards, two TDs), Alex Bandouveres (17-171) and Ryan Maciejewski (8-85, TD).
However, the turning point of this one came in the third quarter when Cony linebacker John Bennett (11 tackles) dropped McCue for a 1-yard loss on fourth-downand one at the B-39, giving the Rams a short field to work with.
Lucas struck quickly, passing to Taylor Carrier (eight catches, 102 yards) for a 28-yard strike for his record-setting 85th career TD pass and a 35-24 Cony lead.
Later in the third, Bennett stepped up again, somehow keeping Dragons quarterback Brady Larson from moving the sticks on a fourth-and-short at the B-42.
Cony again took advantage of the short field as Lucas threw to Bennett, who broke a tackle along the Brunswick sideline and rumbled 35 yards for a score and a 42-24 Rams advantage.
“We made a couple mistakes, a couple of things that we wanted to do that we didn’t get done, some my error, and some just good plays by Cony,” said Brunswick coach Dan Cooper. “We felt at that point that we hadn’t had a lot of success stopping them, so we felt they were going to score anyway. We just went for it, and Cony made the plays.”
“They guessed right on a lot of them, blitzed right into the right hole, and if we ran the other way we were gaining 20 yards or more,” said Larson.
Don’t blink
The opening quarter was all about offense. After forcing a Cony punt on the opening drive, Brunswick ran nine plays that covered 86 yards, with Maciejewski sweeping left for an 18-yard score and a 7-0 lead after an Adam Casey extra-point kick.
“It was a great start for us,” said Maciejewski.
After a 56-yard kick-off return by Bennett and a 15- yard personal foul on Brunswick, Lucas found Bennett for a 22-yard TD strike, with Kevin Kingsbury’s kick tying the game, 7-7.
Back came Brunswick, with McCue rumbling 56 yards to the C-9 and Larson finishing off the quick twominute drive with a 2-yard TD run and a 14-7 Dragons lead. McCue rushed for 118 yards in the opening frame.
“We expected them to come out running hard and they did,” said Bennett.
After another good return from Bennett, Lucas quickly drove the Rams down the field, this time lofting a pass to Mitchell Bonenfant to the corner of the endzone for a 29-yard strike and a 14-14 deadlock through a quarter.
The defenses woke up early in the second quarter. Reid Shostak (eight tackles) dropped McCue for a 5-yard loss on fourth-and-one to thwart a Brunswick drive, and the Dragons answered on defense, with Lucas throwing three straight incomplete passes and a 15- yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty forcing the Rams to punt.
Maciejewski broke through the Cony line and blocked the kick to set up the Dragons at the C-23, and after the Rams held, Casey booted a 30-yard field goal to give Brunswick a 17-14 lead with 5:22 left until halftime.
Again, the offenses took over. First, Lucas quickly moved the Rams, with his third TD pass going to Tayler Carrier for a 21-17 lead with 3:34 left on the clock.
Brunswick answered behind the punishing running of Alex Bandouveres (17 carries, 171 yards), who gained 52 yards on the ensuing drive. Will Bessey gave the Dragons a 24-21 lead on an 11-yard TD run with 1:27 left.
That was way too much time for Lucas, who completed 4-of-6 passes during a 65- yard drive that was helped along by a pass interference call on the Dragons. Charlie Hallak pounded the ball across the goal line on a 2- yard run with 25 seconds left until halftime to give Cony a 24-21 advantage at the break.
“We were able to get some momentum back before half with that score,” said Lucas, who was 15-of-27 for 211 yards in the first half.
“We had all the momentum and should have taken the lead to halftime, but instead they marched right down the field. We outplayed them, but we went into the half behind, which was frustrating,” said Cooper. “We knew Lucas was going to throw the ball all over the place, and just felt if we could make a few stops we were going to be OK. We just didn’t get enough stops and he played well.”
Down 42-24 entering the fourth quarter, McCue scored on a 2-yard run to get Brunswick to within 42-30 with 9:50 remaining.
A botched onside kick gave the Rams the ball at the B-47. Cony showed a ballcontrol offense on the gameclinching drive, eating up nearly seven minutes of the clock and converting two key fourth downs, including a fourth-and-12 when Lucas threw a dart to Carrier (eight receptions, 102 yards, three TDs) for a 16-yard gain to the B-10. Three plays later, Carrier scored on a 1-yard run out of the Wildcat formation for a 48-30 lead.
“We dominated them early up front, and had our way with them, but as the game went on, I think our kids wore down a little bit and they made some plays to turn the tide,” said Cooper. “They made a couple of fourth-down conversions on that drive, and we had a hard time covering some of their skill guys.”
No quit in Dragons
Brunswick refused to quit, getting a 29-yard kick-off return by Bessey and moving 51 yards on six plays, with McCue scoring on a 9- yard sweep. Larson threw to Bandouveres for the 2-point conversion to get the Dragons to 48-38 with 1:05 left on the clock, and McCue recovered Casey’s onside kick.
But, Jonathan Saban ended Brunswick’s dreams of a comeback when he intercepted a Larson pass to close out Cony’s win.
Jacob Duffy paced the Brunswick defense with 10 tackles, with Taran Payne adding six and Pearson Cost intercepting a rare Lucas mistake.
Carrier led the Rams with 38 yards rushing and added six tackles on defense.
Both teams finished with 20 first downs, with Brunswick owning a 28:02- 19:58 time-of-possession advantage.
Cony 48,
Brunswick 38
Eastern Maine Class B
Championship
At Brunswick
Cony — 14 14 14 6 — 48
Bruns. — 14 10 0 14 — 38
First quarter
B — Ryan Maciejewski 18 run
(Adam Casey kick), 5:51.
C — John Bennett 22 pass
from Ben Lucas (Kevin Kingsbury kick), 5:31.
B — Brady Larson 2 run
(Adam Casey kick), 3:19.
C — Mitchell Bonenfant 29
pass from Ben Lucas (Kevin
Kingsbury kick), 1:57.
Second quarter
B — FG Adam Casey 30,
5:22.
C — Tayler Carrier 9 pass
from Ben Lucas (Kevin Kingsbury kick), 3:34.
B — Will Bessey 11 run
(Adam Casey kick), 1:27.
C — Charlie Hallak 2 run
(Kevin Kingsbury kick), :25.
Third quarter
C — Tayler Carrier 28 pass
from Ben Lucas (Kevin Kingsbury kick), 8:00.
C — John Bennett 35 pass
from Ben Lucas (Kevin Kingsbury kick), :44.
Fourth quarter
B — Lucas McCue 2 run
(pass failed), 9:50.
C — Tayler Carrier 1 run
(pass failed), 3:15.
B — Lucas McCue 9 run
(Alex Bandouveres pass from
Brady Larson), 1:05.
Records — Cony 8-2,
Brunswick 7-3.
Up next — Cony takes on
Kennebunk this upcoming Friday in the State Class B
Championship at the University of Maine in Orono at 7
p.m.; Brunswick’s season is
completed.
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