By SCOTT MARTIN
Sports Editor

AUGUSTA — The Cony football team got off to a fast start and finished strong Saturday afternoon. Lawrence, however, scored on three straight possessions during the second quarter and held on for a 28-18 win in a Pine Tree Conference Class A game at Alumni Field.

Lawrence played without injured starters Shaun Carroll, Jake Doolan and Josh Doolan but improved to 7-0. Cony fell to 1-6.

Cony jumped out to a 7-0 lead on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Ben Lucas to Chase Shostak with 4 minutes, 1 second left in the first quarter, then made things interesting in the fourth. The Rams took over on the Lawrence 31 with 4:46 left and scored on a 16-yard pass from Lucas to Chandler Shostak to make it 28-12. After failing on the two-point try, John Bennett recovered Zac Lachance’s onside kick, and the Rams had possession at the Lawrence 45.

The Rams pulled within 10 when Brandon St. Michel took a screen pass from Lucas and rambled 31 yards for a touchdown with 2:19 left. Cony failed again on the two-point try, then Lawrence recovered another onside kick attempt and held on for the win.

“There were a couple of points in the football game where I thought we could have given up, and we didn’t,” Cony coach Robby Vachon said. “We made a couple of stops and never gave up.”

Lucas completed 21 of 42 passes for 166 yards and three touchdowns.

After falling behind in the first, Lawrence quickly answered back to a 21-6 lead heading into the locker room. Four plays after Cony took the lead, Lawrence scored on a 55-yard run by Anthony Sementelli.

The Bulldogs forced Cony to punt, then scored on their second play of the ensuing drive when quarterback Spencer Carey ran 65 yards down the right sideline.

“That is a play we’ve been working on a lot in practice,” said Carey, who rushed 12 times for 95 yards and three touchdowns. “Our O-Line did what they needed to do, and our tight end had a great break.”

Carey scored again on a 1-yard run to cap an eight-play, 69-yard drive with 5:43 left in the half.

Despite playing without Carroll, who has rushed for 1,072 yards and 13 touchdowns, and his backup Josh Doolan, the Bulldogs ran the ball effectively. Sementelli rushed 14 times for 143 yards and a touchdown, while Chase Collins ran 15 times for 96 yards.

“Having Anthony’s run after they scored, to have a positive run with him at tailback, that gave us some confidence,” Lawrence coach John Hersom said. “We had to call upon our line today to sustain some drives.”

Carey tacked on a 1-yard run in the third quarter to cap a nine-play, 51-yard drive with 6:27 left. His scoring run came after the game was delayed approximately 15 minutes because of lightning.

The game was scheduled to be played Friday but was postponed due to weather.

Scott Martin — 621-56218
smartin@centralmaine.com