BANGOR, Maine — Zack Brannon and the Bonny Eagle of Standish football team took out the frustration of two narrow season-opening losses on the Bangor Rams on Friday night.
Brannon, a senior quarterback, passed for 176 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 110 yards and a third score as the Scots shook off a sluggish start to dominate the final three periods of this Class A matchup at Cameron Stadium en route to a 42-0 victory.
“Zack Brannon’s a great kid, we have a lot of faith in him,” said Bonny Eagle coach Kevin Cooper. “He’s made some great plays so far this season, but he’s been a little inconsistent. We ask our quarterback to do a lot in our offense, and we think he can be a fantastic quarterback. It was great to see him play great tonight.”
The Scots (1-2) outgained 0-3 Bangor 539-114 in total yardage in the first meeting of the teams since the 2004 Class A state championship game also won by Bonny Eagle 29-19.
Reserve halfback Cam Theberge added 101 rushing yards and two third-quarter touchdowns on nine carries for the Scots, while senior wideout Ben Autry had seven pass receptions for 103 yards and a score.
“I think we started to play better tonight,” said Cooper, whose team had lost to South Portland 18-14 and to Scarborough 27-26 in its first two games. “In the first two games there were times when we played well and times when we played really bad. We were more consistent tonight.”
Dane Johnson led Bangor with 60 yards on 11 rushes before leaving the game midway through the second half with a nagging shoulder injury.
Bonny Eagle did struggle early, with a high punt snap and two muffed punt returns stunting their momentum during the opening quarter.
The Scots took an 8-0 lead when Brannon found Autry with a 15-yard touchdown pass with 9:01 left until intermission and Theberge added the two-point conversion rush.
Bangor countered with its best drive of the night, marching from its 30 inside the Bonny Eagle 10 behind Johnson, whose six carries during the march was highlighted by a tackle-dragging 27-yard gain to the Scots’ 17.
But hopes for the Rams’ first touchdown since their season-opening game against Edward Little of Auburn ended with a mishandled handoff between quarterback Jeff Lewis and Johnson, with Autry recovering for Bonny Eagle at the Bangor 12.
The Scots drove the distance in 10 plays, with Brannon finding Eben Cram behind the defense for a 15-yard touchdown pass along the left sideline on fourth-and-8 with 1:32 left in the second quarter. A 34-yard slant pass from Brannon to Autry moved the ball to the Bangor 23 and set up the touchdown, with Christian Napolitano adding the extra-point kick to make it 15-0.
“That was a big one for us,” said Cooper. “We’ve struggled at the end of halves, but that score at the end of the half was huge in this game.”
Brannon led Bonny Eagle on a nine-play, 66-yard scoring march to open the second half, rushing five times for 41 yards and passing over the middle to Dalton Sanborn for 15 more yards before Theberge scored from 2 yards out to make it 22-0.
After a Bangor three-and-out, Theberge showed off his speed with a 53-yard sprint to the end zone to cap off a 75-yard drive that extended the margin to 29-0 with 6:12 left in the third.
When Brannon followed moments later with a tackle-breaking 33-yard keeper to the end zone, Bonny Eagle’s lead was 36-0 and running time was employed.
Alex Sprague added a fourth-quarter touchdown on a 36-yard run.
