OAKLAND — Brunswick has built a reputation of being one of the toughest and most physical teams in Pine Tree Conference Class B.

Messalonskee, however, is clearly not intimidated.

For the second year in a row, the Eagles handed the Dragons their first loss of the season by beating them in the trenches. On Friday night, they dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage in a 20-7 takedown.

Jack Bernatchez rushed for 199 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries and Jake Dexter rushed for two more scores for Messalonskee (3-3).

“We just come out and hit them hard every play,” said Bernatchez, whose team beat Brunswick 21-14 last year. “All week we were saying how we were going to do what we did last year again.”

The Eagles outgained Brunswick 345-176 and limited the Dragons to just 51 total yards in the first half.

Hunter Garrett gave Brunswick (5-1) a spark with a 34-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. But Messalonskee stopped him on 4th-and-4 at its own 30 on the Dragons’ next possession, then ran out 5:30 of the final 5:38 to seal it.

“They thoroughly beat us up front, offensively and defensively,” Brunswick Coach Dan Cooper said. “That’s the best that they’ve played all year. Our kids got a little overconfident, as much as we try to warn them that this is a good team and not to take them lightly.”

Dexter (16 carries, 73 yards) capped the Eagles’ opening drive with a five-yard TD run. Bernatchez’s two-yard TD run and Dexter’s two-point pass to Josh Boucher made it 14-0 with 31 seconds left in the first quarter.

“We were a little overwhelmed last week against Marshwood and I told the kids not to lose faith,” Messalonskee Coach Brad Bishop said. “We’ve got some tough kids. We don’t have many (players), but they’re tough. We probably could have punched in a few more tonight if we were sharper.”

Dexter scored on a six-yard run with 9:43 left to extend the lead to 20-0.

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