One streak was extended and another came to a resounding end at the University of Maine football team’s homecoming game against Campbell University of North Carolina at Morse Field in Alfond Stadium in Orono on Saturday afternoon.
The Fighting Camels pummeled the Black Bears 35-6, expanding the home team’s losing streak to seven games and snapping a string of nine consecutive homecoming game victories.
The seven consecutive losses in one season are the most since the 1967 UMaine team went 0-8. Campbell is now 7-1 overall and 4-0 in the Coastal Athletic Association, while UMaine fell to 1-7 and 1-4.
The Fighting Camels racked up 562 total yards compared with UMaine’s 275, and senior quarterback Kamden Sixkiller completed 29 of 44 passes for 450 yards and three touchdowns. He was intercepted once.
Campbell scored 28 unanswered points after UMaine pulled to within 7-6 early in the second quarter on Caden Drezek’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Rashawn Marshall.
Sam Tremblay, who had missed his first field goal attempt in 11 tries this season earlier in the game, missed the extra point.
Trailing 7-6 late in the first half, the Black Bears had the ball on their own 29-yard line facing a second-and-1 situation.
But an incomplete pass and a Marshall run for no yards forced the Black Bears to punt, and it proved costly as the Camels marched 61 yards on four plays to take a 14-6 lead into the intermission.
Ethan Lawrence’s 10-yard touchdown run with 1:43 left in the half capped the drive after Sixkiller hooked up with an open Jyron Waiters for a 53-yard completion on third-and-12.
The Camels expanded the lead to 21-6 early in the third quarter, stringing together a 10-play, 89-yard drive finished off by a 28-yard pass from Sixkiller to tight end Brady Ambrose.
Ambrose broke a couple of tackles en route to the end zone with 9:01 left in the third period.
Sixkiller had extended the drive with a 20-yard pass to running back J.J. Cowan on third-and-6 at the Campbell 43-yard line.
The Camels all but sewed up the win on their next drive by covering 74 yards in 10 plays, with Jon Gullette’s 1-yard run making it 28-6.
Sixkiller used his legs to keep that drive alive by dashing 22 yards on third-and-10 from the Campbell 36-yard line.
The visitors completed the scoring 1:05 into the fourth quarter when Sixkiller found an open Waiters for a 59-yard TD pass.
The Camels opened the scoring on Sixkiller’s 53-yard TD pass to Gullette, but UMaine responded with a four-play, 27-yard drive after an Erv Wiggins Jr. interception and 30-yard return.
Drezek tossed a pass in the flats to a wide-open Marshall, who sprinted into the end zone untouched.
Waiters finished with seven receptions for 155 yards, and Christian Campbell had four for 49 yards. Thirteen different Camels caught passes, and seven had two or more receptions. Cowan was the leading rusher with nine carries for 33 yards.
Linebackers Charles Battaglia and A.J. Benton and free safety Ravel Cato led the Campbell defense with 10, nine and eight tackles, respectively.
For UMaine, Drezek completed 21 of 40 passes for 212 yards and a TD. He was intercepted twice. Evan Wallace had six catches for 67 yards, Nick Laughlin had four for 30 and Corey Rideout had four for 24 yards. Marshall was the leading rusher with 12 carries for 32 yards as the woeful Black Bear offense could only muster 63 yards on the ground.
Strong safety Jeremiah Gill’s 11 tackles paced the Black Bears. Linebackers Noah Carpenter and Sam Oppenheimer had 10 and nine tackles, respectively.