Danny Gray (3), Brady Inman (11) and Eli Halter (5) combined for 208 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns for Cape Elizabeth in Friday’s 22-12 win over Brunswick. Cooper Sullivan/The Times Record

BRUNSWICK — The Cape Elizabeth offense got the spark it needed and earned a 22-12 victory over Brunswick in a Class C South football contest Friday.

The downside for the Capers, is the spark came in the form of an injury.

With Cape Elizabeth trailing 12-7 midway through the third quarter, running back Danny Gray was carted off the field after injuring his right ankle. At that point, the senior was the visiting team’s most productive offensive player, rushing for 61 yards on nine carries, including a 36-yard burst up the middle and a 7-yard touchdown right before halftime.

“That’s obviously something we don’t like to see, but we rallied and played for him,” quarterback Brady Inman said. “I think it was a good outcome after that.”

The Capers finished out the 12-play drive and retook the lead on a 6-yard keeper from Inman.

Cape Elizabeth (4-3) then force a Brunswick (2-5) three-and-out and capitalized on its next drive. Inman and Eli Halter, who moved from receiver to running back, took turns running through the Dragons defense before Halter punched it in from 3 yards out. Halter also salvaged a low snap on the ensuing PAT attempt, by rolling right and finding Aidan Connelly for the conversion.

Friday’s win is the Capers’ first road victory of the season, and the 22 points are a new season-high.

“I thought they did a great job,” Gray said after the game from the bed of the injury cart, his second-half vantage point. “Already having low numbers as it is, we practice situations like this, when a guy who’s getting a lot of touches goes down and everybody has to step up. Brady and Halter did a great job, as well as the O-line in the second half.”

Inman finished with 16 carries for 82 yards rushing and a score. He also completed 4 of 12 passes for 66 yards. Halter ran 11 times for 65 yards and a touchdown and caught two passes for 46 yards.

After a first quarter of punts and penalties, Brunswick was first to find the end zone with 3:53 to go in the first half.

Already a limited offense themselves — quarterback Cam Beal has been out since suffering a high ankle sprain during the Oct. 4 game against Biddeford — the Dragons lost starting running back Christian McMaster to a shoulder injury during the second quarter.

Unfazed, quarterback Robert Bowen twice found Trevor Gerrish (six receptions, 57 yards) for big gains to bring Brunswick inside the 10-yard-line and Jimmy Cook finished the job with a 1-yard touchdown.

With 35 seconds to go before halftime, Cape Elizabeth took a 7-6 lead on Gray’s touchdown.

“We certainly didn’t come out firing like we were expecting to,” Cape Elizabeth head coach Peter Cekutis said. “The start of the game was real slow. (We) had a hard time executing. We didn’t know what are responsibilities were, but give them credit, these guys never quit. They battled through the second half, they came out played a lot more physical, a lot harder, played for each other.”

Brunswick struck first in the second half, as well. After losing the ball on downs at the Cape Elizabeth 22-yardline, the Dragons returned the favor and forced a turnover on downs when the Capers came up short by the smallest of margins. On the very next play, Liam Scholl took a snap in the wildcat formation, ran left and took it 32-yards to the house to make it 12-7 for the Dragons.

From then on, it was all Capers. Thanks to two big sacks by Luke Gagne and Tucker Clark, the Dragons did not gain a positive yard of offense for the rest of the game. In total, Cape Elizabeth outgained Brunswick 267 yards to 136 yards.

“We held our own, just a couple mistakes,” Brunswick head coach Mark Renna said. “We gave up three or four third-and-longs, they just kept it driving. They scored three times. We scored twice. You know, they get their extra points, we didn’t. It’s just football, wasn’t our night.”

There’s still one week remaining in the regular season, Brunswick will travel to Class A Lewiston on Oct. 25, but all eyes are looking towards the Class C postseason, where all five teams in the South region qualify.

“We just keep chugging, I guess,” said Halter. “We (host) Westbrook next week, we’re not going to hold back against them, and then its playoffs, and anything can happen. States-bound is what were looking for.”