The University of Maine’s football team had a forgettable season, but Saturday’s loss to Football Championship Subdivision playoff team and Colonial Athletic Association co-champion University of New Hampshire at Morse Field in Orono was memorable.
In a wild affair that saw UMaine’s struggling football team erase three 14-point deficits against UNH, the visiting Wildcats eked out a 42-41 overtime win Saturday afternoon.
After Max Brosmer threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Lepkowski on the first possession of overtime and Nick Mazzie kicked the extra point to give UNH a 42-35 lead, UMaine used a highlight-reel trick play to score on fourth-and-16 and pull within one.
But UMaine elected to go for two points and the win rather than kick the tying extra point and Joe Fagnano’s rushed pass to Freddie Brock was behind him and linebacker Bryce Shaw intercepted it off Brock’s shoulder pads. Fagnano was under intense pressure, which forced him to throw it early.
The dazzling play that gave UMaine a chance to win was a short pass from Fagnano to Elijah Barnwell, who lateralled it to Montigo Moss.
Moss then threw the ball back across the field behind him to Rohan Jones, who dashed into the end zone down the left sidelines.
“Props to them for that play,” said UNH’s Shaw, who said the two-point conversion pass is “something we practice all the time.
UNH wound up the regular season at 8-3 and 7-1 in the conference while UMaine finished 2-9 and 2-6 after losing its fifth straight game.
UNH and William and Mary tied for the league title, and this will be UNH’s first playoff appearance since 2017.
It was UMaine’s third consecutive loss by four points or less and its fifth of the season.
UNH earned the Brice-Cowell musket and ruined UMaine’s bid to beat UNH in two successive seasons for the first time since 2001 and 2002.
It is only the second time in UMaine history that the Black Bears lost nine games in a season. The other time was 1979.
“Credit to these players and these coaches for how hard they played the entire season and this game. I feel for them right now,” said UMaine first-year head coach Jordan Stevens. “They competed right to the end. Tough way to lose the game in that moment.”
“It’s the Cardiac Cats, finding a way to get it done at the end,” said UNH first-year head coach Ricky Santos. “You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Jordan Stevens and his staff and team. Those guys battled. That’s not a 2-9 football team as far as we’re concerned. They easily could have won another six or seven games this year.”
UMaine trailed 28-14 in the third period after Dylan Laube raced 48 yards to give UNH its third 14-point lead of the game.
It took UMaine just 18 seconds to cut the lead to seven as Scott burst 75 yards down the right sideline, stiff-arming the last UNH defender, to reach the end zone.
The Black Bears tied it with a 10-play, 75-yard drive capped by quarterback Fagnano’s 10-yard run around the left end with 14:23 left in the fourth quarter.
UNH regained the lead on Brosmer’s 6-yard pass to Adam Dese 3:11 later, but UMaine tied it again on Barnwell’s 2-yard run with 3:11 remaining, finishing off a 15-play, 75-yard drive.
Neither team scored again in regulation, which forced overtime.
New Hampshire scored on its first two possessions of the game to take a 14-0 lead as Laube capped an 11-play, 88-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown run and Brosmer tossed a 33-yard TD pass to D.J. Linkins.
UMaine cut the lead in half on Barnwell’s 2-yard run following his 57-yard scamper with 3:14 left in the half.
However, it took UNH just 1:06 to answer as a 48-yard pass from Brosmer to Sean Coyne and an ensuing 15-yard penalty on UMaine set UNH up at the UMaine-15 and Laube dashed in for the score on the next play.
But the Black Bears rallied, putting together a 14-play, 86-yard drive culminating in a 1-yard TD run by Barnwell with 18 seconds left in the half.
A 14-yard run by Brock set UMaine up at the one-yard line and Barnwell took it in on the next play.
Brosmer completed 14 of 23 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns. Laube gained 190 yards on 30 carries to reach the 1,000-yard plateau for the season. He scored three touchdowns and credited his offensive line for opening holes for him all day.
“Our line was kicking their tails all day,” he said. “It was a great game. It was fun to play in.”
Laube finished with 281 all-purpose yards including his punt and kickoff return yardage.
Fagnano completed 16 of 32 passes for 202 yards and a TD. Barnwell carried the ball 20 times for 143 yards and three TDs while Scott had nine carries for 108 and a TD. He also caught five passes for 29 yards.
Fagnano added 71 rushing yards on 12 carries and a TD.
UMaine rushed for a season-high 336 yards against a UNH defense that had allowed an average of just 114 per game.
“I love how our team fights, no matter what is going on,” Scott said. “That really stuck out to me and helped push me throughout the whole game and whole season.”
Toscano’s 14 tackles and end Dylan Ruiz’s 11 paced the UNH defense. Ruiz had 3.5 tackles for lost yards. Linebacker Brian Lee Jr. had 11 tackles for UMaine with safety Austin Ambush and cornerback Benito Speight involved in seven each.