BRUNSWICK — Brunswick remained the lone unbeaten team in Eastern Class B football by rolling to a 35-7 win Friday night against Mt. Blue.

Tom Hanson, a junior in his first season as a starter, threw two long touchdown passes in the first half to help the Dragons (5-0) open a 21-0 lead.

“We’ve been making big plays in the passing game all year long,” Brunswick Coach Dan Cooper said. “They had 10 guys up on the line, and we figured if we gave the quarterback time there would be some open guys down there, and he found him.”

Hanson, who also ran for a touchdown, completed 3 of 6 passes for 134 yards.

“Every week he’s gotten better, and we’re starting to be a team that can threaten running and throwing the ball from anywhere on the field,” Cooper said.

Brunswick had three long scoring plays in the first half.

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Will Bessey opened the scoring when he swept around the left side and went 75 yards for a touchdown with 3:48 left in the first quarter.

With 12 seconds left in the quarter, Hanson threw a short pass over the middle to fullback Alex Bandouveres, who took it the rest of the way for a 56-yard touchdown.

Hanson then connected with Bessey for a 73-yard touchdown just before halftime. Bessey lined up in the slot and was 10 yards behind the defense when he made the catch.

“I kept on running straight,” Bessey said. “I was supposed to run a post (route), but I just kept on running straight and nobody picked me up, and I was wide open.”

Jim Aylward, in his first season as Mt. Blue coach after spending more than two decades at Mountain Valley, expressed frustration with his team’s performance in light of those big plays.

“I’m getting tired of talking about if you take five or six plays out of a game that we were right there with them,” he said. “I’m tired of making excuses for our kids. It’s time for us to grow up and toughen up. We’ve got to get better. That’s the bottom line.”

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Brunswick increased its lead to 35-0 in the second half.

Hanson ran up the middle 3 yards for a score that capped a 10-play, 61-yard drive after the second-half kickoff.

Less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, backup quarterback Jesse Devereaux ran 28 yards for a touchdown.

“We try to wear teams out with our ground-and-pound offense, and we were able to do that tonight,” Cooper said.

Mt. Blue (2-3) ended Brunswick’s bid for its first shutout of the season when Noah Carleton scored a 30-yard run with 26.3 seconds left.

Defensively, the Dragons played one of their best games of the season. They limited Mt. Blue to 10 first downs and 171 yards. Brunswick finished with more than 400 yards.

“In every game we’ve played, we’ve given up a 60- or 70-yard play for a touchdown, but we didn’t give up any big plays tonight,” Cooper said.


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