BAR HARBOR — Mark Shields, the longtime Mt. Desert Island High School football coach, had hugs for everybody. His family, his friends, his players. Shields repeated the same thing, over and over again.

“We did it. We did,” Shields said.

With a ball-controlling offense and a strong defense, Shields’ Trojans wrestled away the Class C North title from three-time defending regional champ Winslow with a 12-7 win on Friday night.

It’s the first regional title in school history for MDI (9-1). The Trojans will play the winner of Saturday’s South final between Wells and Cape Elizabeth next Saturday, Nov. 19, at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland. The time of that game will be announced Monday.

Two-time defending state champ Winslow ends the season at 8-2.

“I’m just so proud to be part of this team, but more important this community,” Shields, a Skowhegan native, said.

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Chris Farnsworth scored the game-winning touchdown on a one-yard touchdown run with 9:22 left in the game.

The Black Raiders then marched to the MDI 21-yard line, but the drive ended with an Andrew Phelps interception in the end zone with 5:07 left. Winslow got one more chance, taking over at the MDI 47 with 2:39 to go, but the first two plays resulted in losses of 11 yards. On fourth and 21, Winslow tried the hitch and pitch, but Nate St. Amand was shoved out of bounds well short of the first down.

With 1:39 left, MDI got the ball back, and ran out the clock to set off a wild celebration.

“Coach Shields preached that we’ve just got to keep sticking them and sticking them. We just got to do our jobs,” MDI senior Colby Lee, who led the Trojans with 74 yards rushing, said.

MDI’s run-heavy offense controlled the clock throughout the game, particularly in the second half. Winslow had the ball for just 1:13 of the third quarter, and MDI’s game-winning drive chewed more than eight minutes off the clock.

“We knew we had to keep their high-powered offense off the field. We were able to do that. To beat a program like Winslow, I mean, those guys know how to win big games. It just feels so good right now,” Shields said.

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“Too much ball control by MDI. We had to be a little more oportunistic and better on offense. They controlled the ball,” Winslow coach Mike Siviski said. “They played great. They did what they usually do.”

Winslow marched down the field on the game’s first drive, needing just six plays to go 71 yards. St. Amand ran down the left sideline 46 yards for the touchdown, and Winslow had a 7-0 lead.

The Black Raiders had a chance to increase their lead on their next possession, but Ryan Gagnon’s 21-yard field goal try was wide left.

MDI scored on the final play of the first half, when Colby Lee recovered Graham Good’s fumble in the end zone. The snap was high on the kick try, and the conversion failed, giving the Black Raiders a 7-6 halftime lead.

“We just had to put our heads down and perservere. We had to play with heart, and that’s what we did,” Lee said.

St. Amand ran for 100 yards on 10 carries for Winslow.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM


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