FAIRFIELD — When his team held a 28-point lead early in the second quarter Friday against Lawrence, Brunswick football coach Dan Cooper thought back to Week 2 of the season and knew a win wouldn’t come that easily.

It didn’t. Lawrence rallied to within a touchdown, but Brunswick scored the final 20 points to take a 55-28 victory in a Class B North game at Keyes Field.

Brunswick improved to 4-2, while Lawrence fell to 2-4.

“We had almost the identical lead against Skowhegan (20-0) and lost, so I was still uneasy,” Cooper said. “I knew they were capable. Once they got going, they’d be tough to stop. Thankfully, tonight we were able to regain some momentum.”

Lawrence’s Isaiah Schooler scored on a 3-yard run with 2:08 left in the third quarter to cut Brunswick’s lead to 35-28, and it appeared Lawrence still had momentum when it stopped the Dragons on fourth-and-goal from the 1 with 10:58 left. But Lawrence fumbled three players later, and Brunswick’s Trey Curtis recovered the ball in the end zone.

After the Dragons stopped Lawrence on downs at the Brunswick 24, Cam Hathaway ran 48 yards on the next to move the ball deep into Lawrence territory. Three plays later, Donald Bromiley ran in from the 9, and Brunswick’s lead was 48-28.

Bromiley added his fourth touchdown on a 30-yard run with 38 seconds left.

“We didn’t make any critical mistakes, and they did. That was the difference,” Cooper said.

Early, it looked as if the Dragons were on their way to sending the game to running time.

On Brunswick’s second play, quarterback Nate Girardin ran 45 yards for a touchdown.

Bromiley scored on a 35-yard pass from Girardin with 6:14 left in the first quarter. After Jeremiah McNeill recovered a Lawrence fumble at the Bulldogs 25, Mitch Lienert’s 6-yard run pushed Brunswick’s lead to 20-0.

Girardin’s 27-yard run with 10:41 left in the second quarter made it 28-0 and had Cooper thinking of that game that got away at Skowhegan.

Lawrence stopped the Brunswick onslaught with Alex Higgins’ 2-yard touchdown run with 6:23 left in the second quarter. After a Brunswick turnover, Zach Nickerson caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Dylan Coombs.

The teams traded touchdowns in the final minute of the second quarter. Bromiley scored on a 41-yard run for the Dragons, but Lawrence answered with a 5-yard run by Schooler, making it 35-21 at halftime.

“We’re proud of the kids for staying together and dealing with a big hole, but we can’t get off to a start like that,” Lawrence Coach John Hersom said. “That was a lot of our focus this week, to try and avoid getting behind. We’ve been playing from behind quite a bit this season.”

Three Brunswick runners went over 100 yards: Hathaway (153 yards), Bromiley (152) and Girardin (109).

Higgins had 66 yards rushing and 42 yards receiving for Lawrence.

Copy the Story Link