PORTLAND, Maine — Another day, another dramatic drive to win a high school football state championship.
This one was engineered by Bonny Eagle and junior quarterback Zach Dubiel, whose 6-yard scamper with 22 seconds remaining steered the Scots to a 31-28 win Saturday over Cheverus in the Class A final at Fitzpatrick Stadium.
Bonny Eagle (10-1) won its fifth Class A championship in 10 seasons and its first since 2008 after taking over on its own 22-yard line with just over two minutes remaining.
Matt Drouin of Cheverus stopped Jon Woods on third-and-2 from the 7 before Dubiel faked a handoff on a counter play and raced into the end zone for the game-winning TD.
Cheverus (10-1) rallied from a double-digit deficit in the third quarter to take a 28-24 lead on a 3-yard TD run by Cody O’Brien with 1:02 remaining in the period.
It was a game of can-you-top-this featuring big plays by the Scots and long, grinding drives from the Stags early.
Matt Smith’s 66-yard run put the Scots in front. Cheverus answered with the help of three big runs from O’Brien, capped by Joe Fitzpatrick’s 4-yard run.
Dubiel fired a strike in single coverage to Ben Malloy, who craftily kept his balance on a 75-yard catch-and-run to restore the lead for the Scots at 14-7.
Back stormed Cheverus, which gobbled up nearly eight minutes on a 17-play drive aided by a pair of Bonny Eagle penalties. Fitzpatrick scored his second TD of the day and 32nd of the season from a yard out with under a minute to go.
Bonny Eagle boldly went for the long ball and was rewarded with a 30-yard connection from Dubiel to Woods. That set up a 33-yard field goal by Isaiah Reynolds at the horn for a 17-14 halftime advantage.
Joe Bissonnette continued the big-play trend with a 54-yard TD run on the Scots’ first possession of the half.
Cheverus cut into the lead with another long drive, capped by Ethan Jordan’s 1-yard toss to Sam Cross.
A short Bonny Eagle punt gave Cheverus possession at the Scots’ 22 to set up the Stags’ go-ahead touchdown.
It was the first Class A final under the new alignment that placed Cheverus and the other Portland city schools in Eastern Maine, with Bonny Eagle, South Portland, Scarborough and York County schools in the West.