FAIRFIELD, Maine — It’s been a highly anticipated football game each fall for the last several years.
But the latest meeting between Lawrence and the Bangor Rams at Keyes Field on Friday night was more early season coronation than competition, with senior running backs Anthony Sementelli and Josh Doolan combining for 190 rushing yards and four touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs to a 42-12 Pine Tree Conference Class A victory that wasn’t even that close.
Lawrence (2-0) raced out to a 21-0 first-quarter lead in this rematch of last year’s Eastern Maine championship game and extended its advantage to an overwhelming 42-0 through three quarters before Bangor scored twice during the fourth quarter’s battle of the reserves.
“No way I thought it was going to be like this,” said Sementelli, who rushed for 95 yards, including three first-half touchdown runs. “The predictions coming in were for a tight game of low-scoring, defensive-minded football, but we worked hard all week and came out and gave it to them.”
Doolan also rushed for 95 yards, including a 7-yard run for the Bulldogs’ final score with 51.3 seconds left in the third quarter.
Xavier Lewis, a junior wingback who transferred to Lawrence from Bangor over the summer, added a pair of touchdowns on a 43-yard pass from senior quarterback Spencer Carey and a 13-yard run.
“I did not expect a 42-12 victory,” said Lewis, “but I knew going out there that these guys were ready.”
Lawrence’s dominance was most pronounced during the first half, when coach John Hersom’s club outgained Bangor 220-16 in total yardage while building a 29-0 lead.
“[Lawrence is] very good, they’re just better than we are,” said Bangor coach Mark Hackett. “The challenge we have is that we can be a good football team, we’re just not real good right now.”
The Bulldogs finished with a 345-232 advantage in total yards for the game — with 165 of Bangor’s yards coming in the final quarter.
“We were hoping to take a big step forward this week,” said Hersom. “We went down to Edward Little last week and executed OK [in a 39-16 win that was 39-0 through three quarters], but we saw a lot of things that we wanted to address and work hard on this week.
“We made those points with the guys and I think tonight it paid off as our execution was a lot better.”
Lawrence took the game’s opening kickoff and drove 64 yards in 14 plays, with Sementelli capping off the 6-minute, 22-second march with a 5-yard scoring run.
Bangor then went three-and-out before Carey found Lewis open over the middle for his only pass completion of the game, but one good enough to extend the Lawrence lead to 13-0 with 1:31 left in the opening period.
“I was just running a seam up the middle and the safety was playing deep and the linebackers were playing up and I went into the hole and Spencer hit me,” said Lewis.
Lawrence’s Mason Travers recovered a Bangor fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and Sementelli scored from 21 yards out on the next play to make it 21-0.
The rout was on.
Lawrence added its final touchdown of the half on another 5-yard run by Sementelli to cap off a seven-play, 65-yard march. The Bulldogs thought it had scored two plays earlier when Doolan scored on an apparent 40-yard run down the left sideline, but his helmet was pulled off at the Bangor 10 and the play was blown dead there by rule.
It didn’t matter. Carey scrambled for 5 yards on first down and Sementelli scored from there with 3:14 left in the second period.
Lewis scored his second touchdown on a counter play to make it 35-0 with 5:05 left in the third quarter, ending a five-play, 68-yard march set up by Robbie Liberty’s interception of a fourth-down pass by Bangor quarterback Carl Farnham from the Lawrence 20.
Doolan added his rushing touchdown on the Bulldogs’ next possession, one play after he raced 33 yards to the Bangor 7.
Sophomore Jake Lavoie got Bangor on the scoreboard with a 4-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter, and junior Alex Welch added a 45-yard scoring run on the game’s last play.
Lavoie finished with 71 yards on six rushes, while Welch had 63 yards on three carries and senior Cody Chapman rushed for 53 yards on nine tries for the Rams, who are off to an 0-2 start.
“They’re aggressive on defense, they’re just better than we are,” said Hackett of Lawrence, which has beaten the Rams in 10 of their last 11 meetings dating back to the 2005 season.
“They’re stronger, they’re more aggressive, they can play through space and they’re quicker. In every aspect of the game they were better than we were tonight.”
Mr. Hackett
You should consider Maybe having a competition for starting. Do you Maybe think the starters are satisfied? They should always know They can lose their spot. Playing both sides of the ball half hearted doesn’t get it Done. Lots of young men would play harder knowing They had someone that would come in for them in a hearbeat! The starters believe They are set and Kinda roll with it. Knowing there is no consequences. I would Love to see players at least get a chance to compete for the job. One team one heart means all kids at least feel they are equal and had the chance to compete. Just because you were a starter last year, doesn’t entitle you to the position without competition. Ask the boys If they felt They were given a chance. Were they? You are a good coach. Treat all kids the same with an open mind and you may get a different result. Even the best player loses focus when playing 48 mins without a break. We are not a small school lots of boys to sub in to give that starter a break. Keeps them fresh. Not throwing up in a game when down by 30 and he is encouraged by your coaches to Tell you he’s better and get back out there. All I can say when you do the same thing each week. Expect the same results. Way too “clicky”.
Bangor has usually had 2 way players. Most schools in the state do, even the other large schools in southern Maine. There are two realities that you seem to need to accept. 1) This year’s team is not that good, they will barely make the playoffs. 2) This isn’t rec league or the Y. School teams play to win and the subs just aren’t as good. That’s why they aren’t playing.
(-;
Time for a new quarterback, one not related to UMaine Head Football Coach?
Yeah- let’s talk about kids here. Classy move. BTW the QB is not related to Cosgrove.
It’s always who you are, Bangor has a better team sitting in the classrooms right now, who won’t try out because they don’t have the right name. and thats the truth.
Because you know.
Yes, just like the basketball team, the best players don’t try out.. not the right parents. The elite need to get their kids scholarships to save their preciou$
That’s total crap.
He is Nichi Farnhams son I believe. Nichi is a state Rep for a Bangor district. and has tons of control of what happens in the Bangor area including the School, and was once the Bangor City Mayor.. His father is operations Group commander for the Maine National Guard and president of Getchell Bros… What is a coach to do?
I see the connection. Actually, Nichi Farnum is both a long-time member of the Bangor School Committee and the extremely conservative first-term State Senator from Bangor and Herman who led the GOP effort to effect both voter ID requirements on all voters and to end same day voter registration/voting. So she has considerable clout on two political fronts. Yes, his father owns Getchell Bros. and is high up in the Maine National Guard. One can only imagine what might happen if their son was not allowed to continue as Bangor High quarterback.
Love the conspiracy theorists out there. You should write spy novels. You might want to brush up on the spelling first, though.
You apparently are unfamiliar with the power of the Bangor School Committee alone. When current Supt. Betsy Webb’s predecessor was in charge, he had no problem with having his wife employed full-time as either a teacher or an ed tech in the Bangor schools. But when Dan Tremble, owner of Fairmount Market, won election to the School Committee, he was immediately forced to quit because HIS wife was either a Bangor school teacher or ed tech. And as for the State Senate under GOP control, need more be said about a “conspiracy’ by the very rich against the rest of us and against democracy? It’s a not a conspiracy to see power plays in action on behalf of a relatively small group.
Never thought I’d see something this classless. Grow up.
edit by me.
42 millon dollars school budget they better be playing better.
Rams will rebound and get to PTC final. Ya saw it here first.