LIVERMORE FALLS

The Freeport Falcons might have thought they had the Spruce Mountain Phoenix spooked at halftime on this Halloween weekend.

The No. 5 Falcons took advantage of two turnovers and tied the game heading into the second half in the teams’ Class C South high school football quarterfinal at Griffin Field on a cold, rainy and windy Friday night.

Forget all the spooky stuff, though.

The only thing that frightens the resilient Phoenix is losing.

Spruce Mountain pulled it together in the second half and hammered out a 20-14 victory over the feisty Falcons.

But the Phoenix (6-3) have their work cut out for them when they face top-ranked Cape Elizabeth (9-0), which beat Poland, 40-6, in the semifinals on Friday night.

Spruce Mountain’s defense came out with a vengeance in the third quarter and finally made the Falcons cough up the ball on the 33-yard line.

Senior captain Dillon Webster, who put in a lot of overtime in the backfield, took the handoff on the next play and scooted into the end zone for the game-winning, 33-yard touchdown with 10:10 left in the third quarter.

“I didn’t expect it, I didn’t expect,” said Webster, referring to Freeport’s tenacity. “The line blocked the best they blocked all year. Everyone just did phenomenal (on offense).

“We just played great defense (in the second half). I mean they scored two times 15 in. They really didn’t drive on us at all. We did well.”

For the rest of the game, it became a cat-and-mouse skirmish as the Phoenix defense clamped down Freeport’s offense.

Of course, Spruce Mountain coach David Frey had something to say to his team at halftime, especially about those turnovers

“Yeah, it hurt us. That’s what pretty much gave them both their scores,” Frey said. “I told them we have 24 minutes left. We have to suck it up.

“One of us goes on, one of us goes home. Dillon Webster — he was just a workhorse. He pounded and pounded it. He did a great job running with the ball.”

In the first quarter, the Falcons caught a break when the Phoenix fumbled on their second possession at the 16-yard line. Freeport moved to the 7 and quarterback Josh Burke took it from there for the TD. Freeport’s extra-point kick was blocked.

The wet weather didn’t help, but turnovers haunted the Phoenix, who lost the ball three times on four fumbles and were penalized eight times for 60 yards. Those penalties slowed down Spruce Mountain’s drives on several occasions.

On the next set of downs, the Phoenix began a long drive from the 28 to the Freeport 4-yard line where Webster scored and senior quarterback and captain Caulin Parker made good on the 2-point conversion, giving the Phoenix a narrow 8-6 lead.

Spruce Mountain scored again in the second quarter after driving from the 38 to the F- 13. Along the way, Parker reeled off an impressive 27-yard pass to Brett Frey to keep the Phoenix moving. At the 13, Kayle Stewart scored the TD, but the conversion failed, giving the Phoenix a short-lived 14-6 advantage.

The vastly improved Falcons (4-5) came right back at the Phoenix, who fumbled on a punt return and gave the ball back to Freeport on the SM-21. The Falcons inched their way to the 1 and Burke scored his second touchdown. Connor Dostie came across on the conversion to tie the game.

On Spruce Mountain’s final drive of the first half, Freeport’s TJ Morrill intercepted Parker’s pass to send the teams to have tied at 14.

“ We stepped our game up,” Freeport coach Paul St. Pierre said. “I know the score didn’t go the way we would have liked. We liked to have won. That’s what we came here for. We just didn’t come here to play a playoff game. We wanted to win.”