HERMON, Maine — Michael Norton Jr.’s regular season, it turns out, was just the beginning.
The Oceanside senior, who led Class C North with 1,309 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns during the regular season, added 237 rushing yards and five touchdowns Friday night as Oceanside of Rockland-Thomaston defeated Hermon 40-33 in a regional quarterfinal at Pottle Field.
Fifth-seeded Oceanside (6-3) will advance to the Class C North semifinals for the second straight year. Coach Wes Drinkwater’s club will face the winner of Friday night’s quarterfinal between No. 1 Mount Desert Island and No. 8 John Bapst of Bangor in next weekend’s regional semifinals.
Fourth-ranked Hermon ends its best season in school history with a 6-3 record.
Norton scored on runs of 22 and 46 yards to cap off Oceanside’s first two possessions of the third quarter as the Mariners erased an eight-point halftime deficit and took a 26-20 lead after Ben Ripley converted the two-point conversion run after Norton’s second score of the period.
But Norton wasn’t done. The next time Oceanside got the ball, Mariners quarterback Titus Kwaethong hit Jack Freeman for a first down near midfield, leading to Norton’s 39-yard scoring run on a double handoff to extend the Mariners’ lead to 32-20 with 10:34 left in the game.
Hermon, held without a first down in the second half to this point, used a big play of its own to claw back into contention, with a 52-yard pass from Garrett Trask to Keith Pomeroy advancing the ball to the Oceanside 4. Trask scored from the 1 two plays later to pull Hermon within 32-26 with 7:55 left in the game.
But the Hawks defense just couldn’t stop Oceanside’s offense, which scored its fourth touchdown in as many second-half possessions as Ripley scored from 5 yards out to cap a nine-play, 46-yard drive set up by a long Zachariah Cody kickoff return.
Hermon added its final touchdown on a 22-yard pass from Trask to Pomeroy with 20.5 seconds left.
Hermon scored the first two times it had possession and maintained a 20-12 halftime lead.
The Hawks drove 54 yards in eight plays after River Mullen returned the opening kickoff 24 yards to the Hermon 46. Jordan Bishop ran for gains of 15 and 14 yards to move the ball deep into Oceanside territory and Trask added a 13-yard gain on a keeper before Mullen scored untouched from 2 yards out and Bishop added the two-point conversion to give Hermon an 8-0 lead with 7:38 left in the first quarter.
Oceanside required little time to counter offensively, with a long kickoff return by Cody setting up a 17-yard run by Norton that closed the gap to 8-6 with 5:43 left in the opening period.
Hermon marched 80 yards after taking the ensuing kickoff, with a 45-yard scramble by Trask setting up his own 4-yard, fourth-down run to the end zone to make it 14-6 with still 1:22 remaining in the first quarter.
The teams then exchanged punts before Norton broke up the middle on a 78-yard touchdown run that pulled Oceanside within 14-12 with 4:26 left in the first half.
Another good kickoff return by Mullen set Hermon up at its 46, and Trask capitalized with his lone pass completion of the first half, a 35-yard touchdown strike to Pomeroy in the end zone near the left sideline to push Hermon’s lead to 20-12 with 1:53 left before intermission.
Trask led all rushers at intermission with 142 yards on nine carries, while Norton paced Oceanside with 100 yards on the ground.
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