Massabesic High School of Waterboro standout junior running back Alex Harriman rushed for 200 yards on 22 carries in their season-opener in Bangor on Friday and he also made one of the game’s biggest plays on defense.
With Bangor trailing 22-18 and the ball at the Massabesic one-yard line, Harriman tackled hard-running Obi Okafor for a three-yard loss on third down and goal and then a fourth down pass fell incomplete with 2:04 left as Massabesic of Waterboro survived six turnovers to beat Bangor 22-18 at Cameron Stadium.
It was the head coaching debut of Bangor’s Jack Hersom and Massabesic’s Cory Woodsome.
Dustin Maley’s seven-yard TD run with 9:18 left gave Massabesic a 22-18 lead and proved to be the game-winner.
A Gavin Jipson interception and 26-yard return to the Bangor-18 yard line set up the decisive touchdown.
Massabesic jumped out to a 15-0 lead and the lead could have been even larger if the Mustangs hadn’t fumbled the ball through the end zone when they had the ball at the Bangor one-yard line.
That was the first of their five first-half turnovers.
The elusive and quick-footed Harriman’s one-yard plunge and Cooper Smith’s pass to Nolan Pomerleau for the two-point conversion off a fake kick made it 8-0 with 11:27 left in the first half.
The Mustangs extended the lead just 1:52 later when Smith passed to Jipson along the left sidelines and he received a great block which enabled him to race down the sideline for a 36-yard touchdown.
But the Rams capitalized on a pair of turnovers to pull within 15-12 at the half.
Bangor recovered a Massabesic fumble at the M-13 and junior Alex Tennett threw a 13-yard TD pass to Hayden Summerlin to make it 15-6.
Later in the half, Jameson Bradford recovered a fumble at the Bangor 38 yard line and Gavin Hughes capped a six-play drive with a great diving TD reception off a nice throw from Tennett.
Bangor took its only lead when Tennett hit Will Houghton on a 68-yard TD pass in the third period. Houghton was alone along the left side of the field, received an important block and sprinted untouched into the end zone.
Hughes caught six passes for 98 yards from Tennett on the night.
The Mustangs rushed for 223 yards on 31 carries. They lost four fumbles.
Smith completed four of six passes for 57 yards and was intercepted twice.
Tennett completed 10 of 28 passes for 191 yards and three touchdowns. He was intercepted once.
The Mustangs defense, led by linemen Gavin Pomerleau, Wyatt Roy and Elias Tibbetts along with linebacker Nolan Pomerleau, limited the Rams to nine rushing yards on 16 attempts.
Defensive back Hughes had an interception and was one of the Rams’ defensive standouts along with linebacker Okafor. Myles Gonzalez had an interception and Lucian Matzilevich was among the Rams who had a fumble recovery.
“There were definitely some good things,” said Bangor coach Hersom. “I was proud of the way our kids competed and battled. Being down by 15 and getting it back to within three points in the first half gave us a little momentum.
“But credit to Massabesic, they finished the game when they had to,” added Hersom.
The Rams, hit hard by graduation losses, will need to run the ball more effectively said Hersom.
“If we’re going to win games, especially down the stretch, we need to be more balanced so that will be a focus for us moving forward,” he said.
He said Tennett and Hughes “really stepped up for us and made some plays when we needed them to. That catapulted us at times on offense but the thing we were missing was the consistency piece on offense.”
He said his defensive line did a good job especially considering their inexperience and some injury issues.
“They didn’t necessarily make a ton of plays but they freed up the linebackers a little bit to clean things up,” said Hersom. “I was pleased with their effort.”
He said with the exception of it being a loss, he enjoyed his first game as a head coach after being an assistant at Bangor for 14 years. And he got to work with his father, John, who is one of his assistants after having a lot of success in his 20 years as a head coach at Lawrence High of Fairfield.
“I enjoyed it. It’s tough to end with a loss. I really feel for our kids because they’ve come a really long way in a short period of time. We’re asking a lot of kids without a ton of experience to step up and be varsity football players,” said Hersom.
Both teams will be in action again next Friday at 7 as Bangor will travel to Lewiston while Massabesic will host Kennebunk.