The Bangor Rams football team drove across the state to take on the reigning Class A champions and the returning Gatorade Player of the Year.
The 6-4 Rams rolled into southern Maine as underdogs against 8-2 Portland and talented quarterback Cordell Jones. But the visitors from Bangor clearly didn’t care about the expectations.
The hard-hitting Bangor team brought a wave of intensity to Portland’s Fitzpatrick Stadium, and nearly muscled their way to an upset win over the returning champion Bulldogs.
But Portland was able to survive a barrage of second half scores from Bangor, and Jones proved time and again why he is the returning player of the year. The senior quarterback scored the final touchdown of the game, his third rushing touchdown of the night, and Portland eventually triumphed 30-22 in the kind of game that neither team deserved to lose.
Bangor head coach David Morris said earlier in the week that it would be a matchup between two of the state’s best players in Jones and Bangor quarterback Kyle Johnson, and Morris proved to be spot on.
His Bangor defense set the tone quickly, providing a gutsy goal line stand on Portland’s first drive and slowing the powerful Bulldogs offense for much of the first half.
Portland took a 10-0 lead into halftime, but that’s when the Bangor offense came alive.
As he did throughout the night, the hard-running Johnson steamrolled his way for yard-after-yard and put the Rams in position to score early in the third quarter. He faked a quarterback keeper in the red zone and then threw a jump pass to junior tight end Will Houghton for Bangor’s first score of the game, making it a 10-7 contest.
With the ball back not long after, Johnson connected with Houghton for another 25-yard catch and run, which set up an even deeper strike from Johnson to senior wide receiver Gavin Glanville-True for a Rams touchdown. That put Bangor up 14-10 and swung the momentum decidedly in favor of the visiting underdogs.
But Jones was ready with a response. The senior quarterback unleashed a 40-yard touchdown run to reclaim the lead 16-14 after a missed extra point.
Not to be outdone, Bangor’s senior co-captain Johnson reminded everyone that he used to be a running back with another power-packed 14-yard gain on the next play for the Rams.
Then he found Houghton on another deep crossing route to move the ball all the way down to the Portland 16-yard line. Johnson followed that up with a 15-yard run that he capped off with a one-yard touchdown dive.
The electric connection between Johnson and Houghton continued on the next play, with the tight end hauling in a fantastic catch in the back of the endzone for a successful two-point conversion that put Bangor up 22-16.
The upstart Rams, which lost to Portland by 16 points earlier in the season and fell to the Bulldogs a year ago in the North regional final, looked increasingly closer to a shocking upset.
But Jones would not be denied, on either side of the ball. He responded with another touchdown to help Portland regain the lead at 23-22. And then he added an interception on a tipped ball on a third and long that Johnson had to take a chance on for Bangor.
That defensive stop gave Portland the ball at the Bangor 37 with around five minutes to play, which was more than enough time to take the ball into the endzone one more time to secure the final eight point lead with just under three minutes to go.
Bangor’s last-ditch drive was swarmed by pressure from the Portland defense, and a string of sacks closed out a playoff classic between two relentless football teams.