FREEPORT — A late touchdown gave Oak Hill/St. Dom’s the choice to kick for the tie or go for the win. The Raiders went for the win.

After Braden Dubuc connected with Isaac “Iggy” Graham on a long touchdown pass with 1 minute, 37 seconds remaining, Dubuc then found Kaiden Delano on the two-point conversion to give the Raiders a 22-21 win over Freeport in Friday’s Class D South football quarterfinal.

Fifth-seeded Oak Hill (6-3) will face No. 1 Wells (8-0) next weekend in the regional semifinals. Wells prevailed 50-21 in the teams’ lone regular-season meeting Oct. 4.

With Oak Hill/St. Dom’s season on the line, coach Chad Stowell said he decided to go for the 2-point conversion instead of kicking a PAT because the Raiders’ defensive line had “a tough time stopping” the Falcons for most of the game.

“I didn’t really want to give (the Falcons) the ball for a chance to tie it,” Stowell said. “We’ve been kind of riding Kaiden for a long time, and we figured this would be one more and he pulled through.”

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Freeport (5-4), the fourth seed, grabbed a 21-14 lead when quarterback Teddy Peters found Ben Bolduc on a 15-yard touchdown pass with 3:20 remaining in the game.

Oak Hill quickly responded. Graham caught a 38-yard touchdown catch on what he called a “perfect pass” down the middle from Dubuc.

“I just knew the ball was coming to me,” Graham said. “I knew I had to make a big play, so I just ran my heart out, and it was just a perfect ball. Props to the quarterback.”

Graham wasn’t finished. On Freeport’s next drive, he intercepted a pass attempt at the Oak Hill 42-yard line to send the Raiders to the regional final.

“It just felt amazing,” Graham said of the interception. “I was just shocked that I even got it. He tipped in (and) I just dove right at it.”

Stowell said he “had a feeling” Graham was going to step up for the Raiders on Friday.

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“Man, I mean, that was a that was a big throw and a big catch — a tough catch — right down the middle of the field, and then touchdown, to interception to kind of finish it off,” Stowell said. “(Graham) played big, he’s a hell of an athlete. Sometimes he gets overlooked on this team, with Kaiden and PJ (Smith) and our defense, our offensive line, but he’s one of the better receivers around. He showed it today.”

Dubuc finished with 70 yards on 4-for-7 passing, while Graham had 61 yards rushing and 26 yards receiving.

Delano, who ran for 145 yards and caught a TD pass, said the win felt amazing, especially considering the Raiders were playing from behind or tied the entire game until his two-point conversion after Graham’s touchdown.

“It feels absolutely amazing, to be down to start, and be down again in the deep fourth, and just have my line and my team stay up in a time of so much distress, it’s just amazing,” Delano, a senior, said. “They kept blocking, they kept making enormous holes for me to slip through.

“We just had to do our job and execute,” Delano added, “a playoff game is always going to be different than the regular season. Everyone’s bringing their best, and the outcome of the game is going to be very different than what you might think. We just had to come play our game, do our best, and this was the outcome.”

Peters ran for 120 yards, including touchdowns of 10 and 4 yards, for Freeport. He also was 3-for-9 passing.

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“Young man is the hardest working player on this team,” Freeport coach Paul St. Pierre said. “We wouldn’t even be in this position if it wasn’t for some of the individual, gutsy performances he put in all year, and the work he put in the offseason rolled over. He’s a leader, he’s our best player. I’m very proud of him.”

Bolduc finished with 75 yards rushing. St. Pierre said the senior “probably played the best game of the season” Friday. After Peters left the game with a shoulder injury late in the fourth quarter, Bolduc took over at quarterback.

“Ran his butt off, very proud of that young man, and then he stepped in at quarterback at the very end, and he almost got us into field goal range,” St. Pierre said. “I’m really proud of the effort he put in all the way to the end, definitely.”

Stowell said he knew Freeport would be a tough opponent.

“Freeport came out, and they looked like they had a little bit more physicality and a little bit more drive and emotion than we did,” he said. “We’ve had some resilient games this year, we’ve had a couple of one-point losses, so it’s nice to get a one-point win.”

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