WINTHROP

It was 1972, well before many on the Lisbon High School football team was born, and perhaps before some of their parents arrived.

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw, in the closing seconds of the American Football Conference divisional playoff game threw a desperation pass with his team losing to the Oakland Raiders, 6-0. The pass arrived just as Steelers running back Frenchy Fuqua and Raiders safety Jack Tatum collided, with the ball deflecting. As the ball tumbled to the earth, Pittsburgh’s Franco Harris pulled out a miracle, grabbing the ball inches from the ground and tip-toeing his way into the end zone to give the Steelers an improbable 7- 6 win.

On Saturday against top-seeded Winthrop/Monmouth in the Class D South regional final at packed Maxwell Field, the Greyhounds faced a similar, desperate situation. After the Ramblers grabbed a 17-14 lead with 16.4-seconds remaining, Lisbon quarterback Tyler Halls, with his team at its own 44-yard line, managed to send a pass down the field as a Ramblers defender planted him into the turf.

The fluttering ball deflected off one, two, three sets of hands and into the waiting arms of Lisbon receiver Kurtis Bolton, who sprinted towards the end zone as Rambler defenders pursued.

Unlike Harris back in ’72, Bolton was tripped up inch- es from the goal line with just 4.1-ticks remaining. On the next play, Noah Francis plowed into the end zone to give the Greyhounds an improbable 20-17 victory.

“I can’t believe that I pulled that in,” said Bolton of his catch that netted 55 yards. “I was so close to getting in, and then I felt Noah would do the rest of the work. He did. Just unbelievable!”

Next for Lisbon (8-1) comes this upcoming Saturday’s State Class D title game at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland. The Greyhounds face Class D North champion Maine Central Institute, which rolled to a 41-0 rout of Dexter on Friday. The kick-off time will be announced by the Maine Principals’ Association early this week.

Not long before Bolton’s heroics, Winthrop/Monmouth pulled off a mini miracle as quarterback Matt Ingram’s fourth-down pass across the middle to hobbled Nate Scott went for an 18- yard touchdown for a 17-14 Ramblers lead.

Halls came out, knowing that it was all or nothing for his Greyhounds. His tipped pass found the diminutive Bolton for the big play.

“We had 16 seconds to do this, and we knew the game wasn’t over,” said Bolton. “Tyler Halls makes things happen. He is just one of those kids that makes plays when there are no plays to be made.”

“It was an unbelievable ending, and I thought Winthrop’s drive was the game. Sometimes lady luck smiles your way,” said Lisbon coach Dick Mynahan, who admitted he thought of a different strategy on that game-winning drive. “That last play, I was for having Tyler go out to wide receiver, but (assistant coach) Chris Kates said to let Tyler throw it and he made a good call there. Tyler throwing the ball is big for us.

“They believe in themselves, and all year they have believed. Tyler instills a sense of security for them.”

After the Winthrop/Monmouth seniors took one more disappointing lap around the field, Ramblers (8-1) coach Dave St. Hilaire discussed how hard his team fought.

“We are a resilient bunch,” said Hilaire. “I have seen a game like this, back in ’99 when Winthrop played Boothbay, but unfortunately today it wasn’t the result that we wanted.”

Defensive first half

The defenses owned the opening 24 minutes, as the teams combined for 204 yards and just 10 first downs.

Winthrop/Monmouth had the first scoring chance as the Ramblers dropped Halls on a fake punt at the L-13. But, Noah Francis stripped Ingram of the ball and Noah Buiniskas recovered for the Greyhounds.

After a Lisbon punt, the Ramblers grabbed a 3-0 lead on a 29-yard field goal by Tyler Cote with 3:50 remaining in the first quarter.

The Greyhounds began dominating the possession game from there. Though back-to-back drives failed to net points, Lisbon’s offense, led by the running of Noah and Lucas Francis, held the ball for more than 10 minutes in the second quarter.

Trailing 3-0, Lisbon opened the third quarter with a 19-play, 69-yard drive that took eight-and-a-half minutes, with Noah Francis plunging into the end zone with 3:30 left in the quarter. Halls ran in the 2-point conversion for an 8-3 lead.

Over a 21-minute stretch in the second and third quarters, the Greyhounds held the ball for nearly 20 minutes as the Winthrop/ Monmouth defense tired.

“They solved our power offense in the first half, and we talked about moving me back out to wide receiver,” said Halls. “But Coach Mynahan made a decision, and we really needed what he thought we needed. We have the best line in this conference, and we stressed that this wasn’t going to be our last half together.”

“In the second half, our first play went six yards and we just said that’s it and went with it,” said Mynahan. “We were going to do it until they stopped it. We were trying to control the ball to keep it out of their hands. They are an explosive team. They are so talented. We were able to do that.”

“They send an army after you on that one side, and we tried to cut them,” said St. Hilaire. “We weren’t giving up big plays, but it was four, five, four, six … just too much on first down. We knew that they would do that. We wanted to make them earn every touchdown, drive the entire field. That is the way it went.”

As the game shifted into the fourth quarter, the Ramblers found an offensive rhythm. Led by the passing of Ingram, the senior lofted a 44-yard TD pass along the Winthrop/ Monmouth sideline to Bennett Brooks for a 10-8 Ramblers lead.

Back came Lisbon, driving 63 yards on 15 tough plays, with Lucas Francis finding the end zone on a 3-yard run for a 14-10 Greyhound lead with 2:09 left. Once again it was a time-consuming drive, with Lisbon taking over seven minutes off the clock.

Now it was Winthrop/Monmouth’s turn. Again led by Ingram, the Ramblers converted a fourth-down-and-two from the L-41 as Ingram threw to Cote for four yards. A 21- yard pass play to Brooks put the Ramblers at the L-16.

Lisbon stiffened from there, the big play coming on a two-yard loss after Cote tipped a pass to himself only to be dropped to the turf by Cole Bolduc.

After a Ramblers timeout, Ingram let fly a tight spiral to the middle of the field, with Scott stepping between three Lisbon defenders, cutting right and sprinting for a touchdown. Cote’s point-after kick made for a 17-14 contest.

Halls’ intended target on Lisbon’s miracle play was Tyrese Joseph, but Bolton instead made the catch, leaving the Greyhound and Rambler faithful in shock.

“Kurtis is the shortest guy out there, and he got up there, but all year he has done that and was a great ending for him,” said Mynahan.

Lucas Francis led Lisbon with 116 rushing yards on 22 carries along with two receptions for 25. Noah Francis added 77 tough yards on 21 lugs and two scores, while Halls ran 13 times for 54 yards and was 3- for-3 in the air for 80 yards. The key stat for Lisbon — a 32:43 to 15:17 time of possession advantage.

Defensively, Bolduc had seven tackles, with Mason Jefferies, Joseph and Halls adding six each. Halls added an interception, while Bradley Harriman recovered a fumble.

Ingram finished 11-of-24 in the air for 136 yards, with Brooks hauling in five catches for 76 yards. Scott led the ground attack for the hosts with 37 yards on 11 carries. Alec Brown led the Ramblers defense with a game-high 15 tackles, with Andrew Pazdziorko making 12 tackles and Cameron Gaghan eight stops.

No. 2 Lisbon 20,
No. 3 Win./Mon. 17

Class D South Football Championship, at Maxwell Field in
Winthrop
Lisbon — 0 0 8 12 — 20
W/M —  3 0 0 14 — 17
First quarter
W/M — Tyler Cote 29 field goal, 3:50.
Third quarter
L — Noah Francis 1 run (Tyler Halls
run), 3:30.
Fourth quarter
W/M — Bennett Brooks 44 pass from
Matt Ingram (Tyler Cote kick), 9:15.
L — Lucas Francis 3 run (run failed),
2:09.
W/M — Nate Scott 18 pass from
Matt Ingram (Tyler Cote kick), :16.4.
L — Noah Francis 1 run (run failed),
:00.8.
Records — Lisbon 8-1,
Winthrop/Monmouth 8-1.
Up next for the Greyhounds — This
upcoming Saturday against Maine
Central Institute in State Class D title
at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland,
time TBD.