DOVER-FOXCROFT — After rolling through the first five games of the season, the Winslow High School football team had to wonder how it would respond when it finally got in a close game.

The Black Raiders got that answer Friday at Foxcroft Academy.

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Dylan Hapworth’s 1-yard touchdown run with one minute, 21 seconds left in the game gave the Black Raiders a come-from-behind 26-25 win.

Winslow stayed perfect on the season, improving to 6-0.

“I thought that Foxcroft played an excellent game. We had to turn it up a notch to get by them,” Winslow coach Mike Siviski said. “Foxcroft games are always tough like this.”

“I’m extremely proud of the way we played. It’s just going to make us better,” Foxcroft coach Dan White said. “It came down to, were we willing to accept a physical challenge. We just did a nice job gang tackling. We played fast defense.”

The Ponies (4-2) took a 25-20 lead with 5:03 left in the game when Peter Boyer scored on an eight yard run. Back-to-back 15-yard Foxcroft penalties helped Winslow get into good field position. First, an unsportsmanlike penalty on the failed 2-point conversion and Trenton Bouchard’s 15 yard kick return set Winslow up at the Foxcroft 45. On the first play of the series, the Ponies were called for pass interference, giving the Black Raiders the ball at the Foxcroft 30.

“I think the corner just got turned around, and he didn’t turn his head. It happens,” White said.

Quarterback Bobby Chenard carried the ball four times for 28 yards on the final drive before Hapworth (101 yards on 20 carries) scored.

“We knew we had to do something on that drive, or it was game over. I did the best I could, and it was a total team effort,” Chenard said.

With 9:57 left in the game, Chenard found Jake Trask on a 26-yard touchdown pass to give Winslow a 20-19 lead — its first lead since the first quarter.

“It was originally supposed to be a quick out to Justin (Martin). Hunter Smith, he’s a hell of a safety, and he followed (Martin) right away,” Chenard said. “I just tried to find someone. I saw Trask behind his defender, and put it up for grabs.”

Added Siviski: “I thought Bobby Chenard did a nice job throwing the football. Leadership, running the ball, everything.”

The Black Raiders forced the Ponies to punt but gave the ball back to Foxcroft with a fumble at their own 11 with 6:14 to play. Three plays later, Boyer scored the go-ahead touchdown. All of Foxcroft’s yards came on the ground, with Boyer (163 yards) and quarterback Smith (129) accounting for 292 of the Ponies’ 295 yards. White moved Smith from receiver to quarterback after the season-opening loss at Waterville.

“It forces defenses to sit when he and Peter come together. They don’t know where the ball’s going,” White said.

Winslow scored just 54 seconds into the game, when Chenard ran in from one yard out for a 7-0 lead. The Ponies answered with a nine play, 57 yard drive, tying the game on Smith’s six yard run with 7:54 left in the first quarter.

Foxcroft increased its lead to 10-7 on a 27-yard field goal from Nate Church with 11:11 left in the second quarter, and when Smith scored on a two yard run with 2:12 left in the half, the Ponies had a 16-7 lead.

Winslow answered just before the half, when Chenard connected with Martin on a five yard touchdown pass to cut Foxcroft’s lead to 16-14 at the break.

The Ponies controlled the ball for most of the third quarter, holding Winslow to three offensive players, but couldn’t increase their lead until Church made another 27-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter.

“They did a great job holding the ball on us and keeping us off the field,” Siviski said.

Chenard threw for 114 yards. Martin had two catches for 53 yards.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM

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