BRUNSWICK — As the wind wiped through the Mid-coast on Wednesday, the Brunswick High School football team was preparing to practice.
At this time of the year, just eight teams have the privilege of strapping on the pads for one more game, with the state football championships set to take place in Orono and Portland on Saturday.
For the Dragons, their toughest test of the season awaits, a talented Marshwood team that is the defending State Class B champion after a 63-20 demolition of Skowhegan last year. In fact, the Hawks have captured three of the last four Class B titles, having defeated Brunswick in the 2014 and 2015 finals on the same field that Saturday’s 6 p.m. contest will be played on — Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.
Marshwood enters Saturday’s contest with a 10-1 record, having dispatched previously undefeated Kennebunk, 14-13, in the Class B South Regional Final last week in Biddeford. A week earlier, the Hawks racked up 500 rushing yards in three quarters against a solid Falmouth squad.
“They are diverse,” said Brunswick (8-3) head coach Dan Cooper of Marshwood. “They are big up front, fast, and they run the ball really well. They are just a good football team.”
“Marshwood spreads the field out, so you can’t target one player,” senior cornerback Tyler Nadeau said. “We need to spread our defense to account for them and play hard. We know it won’t be easy, but we think we can get it done.”
The Dragons have rallied behind a solid defense that has pushed Brunswick into a spot that seemed quite improbable three weeks earlier. There have been timely turnovers, big tackles, and a confidence that has slowly built in the 2018 Brunswick Dragons during this postseason.
Nadeau and junior cornerback Chandler Coombs have put together a postseason to remember for the Dragons.
Against Cony at Lewiston High School in the Class B North semifinals, Coombs grabbed a deflected Rams pass and returned it 33 yards to the end zone, giving Brunswick an early 7-0 lead.
In a 13-13 contest midway through the fourth quarter, Coombs picked up his second interception, this one setting up the Dragon offense deep in Cony territory. The drive ended with the game-winning touchdown as Brunswick shocked the Rams, 21-13, a mere two weeks after Cony rolled out of Brunswick with a 30-6 victory.
“It was kind of crazy, realizing what just happened, that I had a pick-six and another interception to set up a touchdown,” said Coombs, who is the son of Alison and Jason, and brother to sister Chloe, who is a Brunswick sophomore. “The second one, I thought of it as another interception, giving our offense a chance to do something. I try to keep my eye on the quarterback, watching what he is doing while watching the guy I am covering. So far, it has worked.”
“I am not sure if we compete with Cony without Chandler’s interceptions,” said Cooper.
Coombs leads the Dragons with six interceptions this season, but it was his fumble recovery after a hard hit by linebacker Nick Munn that put the ball on the ground in Brunswick’s 14-10 come-from-behind win over Lawrence in the B North Regional Final that turned the tide. Lawrence led 10-7 at the time and the Bulldogs were moving again in the second quarter.
After the turnover, the Brunswick defense bottled up the visitors the rest of the way.
“We stopped them once and we knew that we could do it again. We did,” Coombs said. “We stopped them the rest of the way, and it was for our brothers. We played as a team, a brotherhood, a family.”
As for Nadeau, he has come up with big plays all season, though a bit quieter and under the radar. He had 15 tackles against Lawrence, and his interception on a halfback pass with 2:13 remaining in the fourth quarter sealed the regional final victory.
“It was a big play, but there were a lot of big plays — Chandler’s fumble recovery, Nick Munn’s forced fumble. My interception was just a small one. I felt my 15 tackles were a bigger deal against Lawrence,” Nadeau said.
“He has been like that all year, all over the field and making big tackles for us,” said Cooper of Nadeau, the son of assistant football coach Greg and mother Nycole. His freshman brother, Colby, is a football player as well.
Working into spots
Last season’s one-win Brunswick regular season was a by-product of the Dragons’ past successes.
After three consecutive trips to the State Class B championship, including bringing home the title in 2016 after a 28-6 victory over Kennebunk, the 2017 Dragons were varsity young.
The team pressed on, close in most games before a few inexperienced mistakes cost them.
“We felt confident last year, but they weren’t quite ready and lost some confidence as the year went on,” Cooper said.
“Last year, we were nervous, not having done this before,” added Nadeau, who has 79 tackles this season. “This year, we are a lot more calm, knowing that we have done this. We are ready to shock the world.”
To “shock the world,” Cooper feels his team needs to embrace the underdog role, choosing to practice quietly and allow everyone else to talk about the outcome of the game.
“The talk of us not having a chance motivates the kids,” said Cooper. “They’ve had their backs to the wall for a while now. They relish it. We just need to do the things that have led to our success. We need to have solid line play, be physical up front, and we have to match them and compete early.”
“Our line has an explosiveness, so if we can get low and stick to our blocks, we will do well. We need to come in hot, and we realize that we have to play a perfect game,” said Nadeau.
Coombs is confident his Dragons can put everything together one more time and use the “us against the world” mentality to come out on top.
“We think we’re going to win, shock the world, shock the state. We have confidence.”
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