YARMOUTH — From 0-8 to the regional final.
That is the improbable tale of Brunswick’s eight-man football team.
The fourth-ranked Dragons, one year removed from a winless campaign and two weeks removed from a 44-point loss at defending champion Yarmouth, returned to the Clippers’ home turf and pulled off a shocking 48-46 win in the eight-man Large South regional semifinals on Monday evening.
Cam Beal threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Liam Scholl with 2:26 left to put Brunswick on top to stay and the Dragons preserved the victory with a stop on a Yarmouth 2-point conversion rush with 1:05 on the clock to prevail.
Brunswick (6-3) will take on the winner of Tuesday’s game between Greely and Mt. Ararat in the Large South regional final at a date and time to be announced.
“The kids believed in themselves. I didn’t do anything special,” said Mark Renna, the Dragons’ first-year coach. “The kindling was there and I just got the fire up a little bit and stoked it.”
Yarmouth (6-2), which hadn’t played in 17 days, showed no signs of rust, turning Brunswick over on downs to start the game. The Clippers then scored on a 59-yard touchdown run by standout running back Michael McGonagle on their first play from scrimmage.
The Clippers got the ball back at their 16 and McGonagle promptly broke free again, this time scoring from 80 yards out for a quick 12-0 lead.
But the Dragons came to life and pulled within four by quarter’s end, thanks to a 5-yard TD run from Beal.
Brunswick kept the pressure on in the second quarter as Beal scored on a 1-yard keeper for the lead.
Then after a Yarmouth fumble, Jimmy Cook’s 3-yard touchdown run made it 20-12.
The Clippers responded and ended the half strong, tying the score on a 9-yard touchdown run by McGonagle and a 2-point conversion pass from Sam Bradford to Adam Pelotte.
They took the lead on a long touchdown pass from Bradford to Pelotte, which made it 26-20 at the break.
After McGonagle (5 yards) and Beal (1 yard) traded touchdown runs, a 9-yard McGonagle scoring burst put Yarmouth up 40-26, and the Clippers were on the brink of pulling away.
But Lucas Labreque returned the ensuing kickoff 83 yards for a score to get the Dragons back in it, 40-34, heading to the fourth quarter.
In the fourth, Beal hit Trevor Gerrish with a 13-yard touchdown pass to tie it.
Beal then found Scholl for the go-ahead score and more importantly, connected with Gerrish for the 2-point conversion and a 48-40 lead.
Yarmouth got a 60-yard touchdown pass from Bradford to Wyatt Gawtry with 1:05 remaining, but McGonagle’s 2-point conversion rush was stopped short by Lucas Coffill and Brunswick ran out the clock.
McGonagle ran for 276 yards and five touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough.
“It was heartbreaking. Big time,” said Clippers Coach Jim Hartman.
“We fought as long as we could and got 46 points. That kickoff return killed us. Michael’s our stud and we wanted him to have the ball at the end, but they made an adjustment and it didn’t work.”
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