KENNEBUNK – Keegan Andrews had already been through a crazy series of momentum shifts. So why not add one more?
Given a chance to win the game with 39 seconds to play, and with 61 yards to cover in a tie game against Class B South rival Marshwood, Andrews and the Rams took advantage.
Andrews quickly picked up 13 yards on a scramble and got out of bounds to stop the clock. Then he uncorked a deep ball to Matt Moore, who was 1-on-1 with Marshwood’s Cam Cornett, one of the Hawks’ top players. Both players went up for the ball, it bounced off their hands, and then Moore caught the ball while Cornett slipped and raced in for the touchdown that gave Kennebunk a 42-35 win Friday night.
That play capped Kennebunk’s 21-points spree in the final 4:55, helped by Jack Cataldi’s recovery of an onside kick after the Rams cut their deficit to 35-27.
Earlier, Marshwood scored 28 consecutive points to erase a 21-7 deficit, aided by recovering a kickoff that caromed off one of Kennebunk’s upmen.
“It was a pretty crazy scene tonight,” Andrews said. “Obviously a lot of momentum swings in this game, but we had to keep our heads up and keep with the intensity. This is what happens in these big games. The bottom line was we knew it wasn’t over until it’s over. You gotta keep playing.
Kennebunk (6-2) clinchee the No. 2 seed in Class B South behind Portland. Marshwood (5-3) will finish either third or fourth.
David York was Kennebunk’s workhorse back, rushing up the middle for 130 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. He also scored on a 7-yard catch that cut the lead to 35-33, and Andrews scrambled in for the tying 2-point conversion.
“Once we get a head of steam, we’re almost unstoppable,” York said. “Everybody on this field knows what to do and everybody on this field is capable of doing it. As long as we have the confidence behind it, we can win. It doesn’t matter who it is, we can win.”
Moore rushed for 77 yards and two scores in addition to the touchdown catch. Andrews finished 11 of 16 for 169 yards with three touchdowns, his first a 5-yarder to Jacob Morris that gave the Rams a 21-7 lead with 5:42 left in the second quarter.
At that point, Kennebunk’s running game was gashing Marshwood.
The Hawks responded behind fullback Andrew Goodwin, who scored on a shifty 26-yard burst late in the second quarter and on a 4-yard run on the Hawks’ first possession of the second half, when they overcame a first-and-35 after a block in the back 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage.
After recovering an inadvertent onside kick, Goodwin took a well-executed screen pass 50 yards for the go-ahead score.
Goodwin then blocked a punt, setting up an 11-yard touchdown run by Hawks quarterback Aidan Sullivan.
Despite giving up its lead, Marshwood had first-and-10 at Kennebunk’s 36 with 1:05 to play. On an attempted pass, the ball slipped from Sullivan’s hand and he was forced to recover it for a 7-yard loss. After spiking the ball to stop the clock, an incomplete pass and a Sullivan scramble that came up short gave the ball back to Kennebunk.
“When they got the ball, there was what, 39 seconds left. You’ve got to believe you’re going to stop them,” said Marshwood Coach Alex Rotsko. “We fought back in the third quarter, and then after that it was all them.”
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