TURNER — It was not the fancy fireworks display many expected to witness when Mt. Blue and Leavitt met Friday at Libby Field to decide the Pine Tree Conference Class B championship.
But the point-producing squads provided plenty of drama.
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Jordan Hersom completed a shovel pass to Jake Ouellette on a 2-point conversion to give Leavitt a 22-21 victory over Mt. Blue in a wild double-overtime affair.
“I can’t explain the feeling,” said Ouellette, who rushed for 54 yards and a touchdown. “It’s … amazing.’
Top-seeded Leavitt (11-0) pushed its conference winning streak to 33 games and reached the Class B state title game for the third consecutive season. The Hornets will play the winner of Wells-Mountain Valley on Nov. 19 at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.
No. 2 Mt. Blue, which was in position for the victory Friday before turning the ball over in the first overtime, finished 9-2.
“It was a tough game,” said Mt. Blue senior halfback Izaiha Tracy, who rushed for 30 yards and a touchdown in the second overtime. “There’s not much else to say. They came out and won it.”
The two-point conversion came after Hersom pulled the Hornets within 21-20 with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Brian Bedard.
The Hornets lined up to kick the extra point and force a third overtime, but coach Mike Hathaway called a timeout and brought out the offense.
“I knew all along we were going to go for it,” he said. “I thought if we sent out the field goal unit maybe (Mt. Blue) wouldn’t be prepared for it. They might not have drawn up a defense.”
The Hornets converted, with Ouellette finding ample daylight to squeeze into the end zone.
“I caught the shovel pass and had plenty of holes,” Ouellette said.
Leavitt opened the first overtime on offense, but Mt. Blue junior safety Jordan Whitney stripped Ian Durgin of the ball.
The Cougars took over at the 10-yard line with a chance to win.
However, they turned the ball over on the third play when Tracy slipped in the backfield on a missed handoff with Mt. Blue at the 2-yard line.
“It was a tough play,” Mt. Blue coach Gary Parlin said. “We slipped on the third play, and I think we’ll see on film that we would’ve scored on the play.”
Parlin said he never thought about sending out kicker Shawn Keach for a potential game-winning field goal on second or third down.
“The plan was to kick it after the third play,” he said. “I’ve never been a part of something like this.’
Mt. Blue opened the second overtime on offense, and Tracy scored on a 5-yard rush. After a successful kick by Shawn Keach, Mt. Blue led 21-14.
“We had to buckle down and we did,” Ouellette said.
The Cougars, who were playing in their first conference title game since 2005, when they were in the
PTC A division, trailed 7-0 at the end of the first quarter but led 14-7 heading into the fourth.
Whitney threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Cam Sennick on a fourth-and-nine situation with 2:54 left in the half to help Mt. Blue pull even at 7-7.
“It was a play we practice all season,” Sennick said. “We stepped it up.”
Whitney, who completed nine of his 20 passes for 66 yards, later rushed for a 1-yard touchdown in the third quarter to put the Cougars up 14-7.
However, Leavitt answered when Ouellette rushed for a 2-yard score on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Leavitt reached the Mt. Blue 20-yard line with two minutes left in the fourth quarter, but Chad Luker sacked Hersom on fourth down to help force overtime.
Hersom led all players with 178 yards from scrimmage. He completed seven of his 11 passes for 129 yards.
“It was a great high school football game,” Parlin said. “We just came up a bit short.”
Bill Stewart — 621-5640
bstewart@centralmaine.com
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