Down by two points with seven minutes to play, Yarmouth went on a 16-play drive that ended with a three-yard touchdown run by Michael McGonagle and a 30-26 victory over Waterville, earning the team the eight-player large school state championship at Cony High School in Augusta.
McGonagle, the star running back, capped an incredible season, scoring three touchdowns to help the Clippers win the state title for large Maine high schools for the first time since 2011 when Yarmouth won the Class C state title.
Yarmouth showed off its punishing run game on the game’s opening drive, using McGonagle and Spencer LaBrecque exclusively on the ground throughout its 66-yard drive.
McGonagle, who ran for 56 yards on the drive, scored a three-yard touchdown run up the middle, his 22nd of the season, to put Yarmouth on the board. LaBrecque scored the two-point conversion and the Clippers had an early 8-0 lead on Waterville.
“They’re a tough group,” Yarmouth coach Jim Hartman said. “Mentally tough, LaBrecque is tough, they’re all just mentally tough and this is why we run the ball.”
The Panthers needed an answer and found one on their first drive.
Quarterback Dustan Hunter moved Waterville down the field through the air and on the ground in a stark change from Yarmouth’s ground-and-pound run game.
Hunter ran for 19 yards and threw for 29 yards including an eight-yard touchdown pass to Spencer Minihan, pulling Waterville to 8-6 with 3:21 left in the first frame.
Yarmouth’s offense moved the ball easily down the field once again but a fumble on a handoff to McGonagle turned the ball over to Waterville deep in Panther territory.
The two teams traded dead-end drives before Hunter broke off a 58-yard touchdown run up the right side that put Waterville on top 12-8 with 3:47 left in the first half.
On both Waterville touchdowns the two-point conversions were unsuccessful, leaving points on the field.
The Clippers went back to McGonagle on the ground on their final drive before halftime.
McGonagle, who amassed 2,300 yards heading into the game, tacked on 27 more yards to set up Yarmouth’s first completed pass of the game, finishing with 185 rushing yards Saturday.
“It wasn’t like they popped out big runs on us, it was three and four yards at a time and they’re the best ground-and-pound team in eight-man football,” Waterville coach Isaac LeBlanc said.
Quarterback Sam Bradford ran a play-action play, faking it to McGonagle and finding Kai Sullivan for a 25-yard pass to the two-yard line.
LaBrecque punched it in from two yards out and McGonagle scored the two-point conversion and with 37 seconds left in the half, Yarmouth had a 16-12 lead.
Yarmouth added to its lead in the third quarter on an 18-yard touchdown run to LaBrecque to go ahead 24-12 with 7:10 left in the third.
On the next drive, Hunter found Minihan three times through the air, the third resulting in a 20-yard touchdown to pull within six points, 24-18.
Waterville’s defense stepped up with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter.
Gage Hubbard picked off Yarmouth and returned the interception 62 yards for a touchdown. Hubbard then caught a pass for the two-point conversion and Waterville had its first lead of the game since late in the second quarter.
The Panthers’ defense came up big once again, forcing Yarmouth into a turnover on downs with about 10 minutes left in the game.
Hunter and the Waterville offense trucked down the field once more, but on fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line, a high snap went over Hunter’s head and all the quarterback could do was fall on the ball.
Yarmouth then went on its six-minute, 32-second drive that was capped off by a McGonagle
touchdown.
“I am proud of our kids,” LeBlanc said. “We battled, we studied hard. Nobody picked us. They just don’t quit and I have never been more proud of a team in my life.”
