AUGUSTA — George H.W. Bush was president the last time the Cony football team defeated Bangor in 1990. That is, until Friday night.
The Rams of Augusta broke their string of futility against the traditionally strong Bangor Rams with a convincing 49-15 win that placed them in the middle of the Pine Tree Conference Class A playoff picture.
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“We needed a win to get into the playoffs,” Cony senior Chandler Shostak said. “We’re not there yet, but it was a huge win.”
Shostak caught two touchdown passes and returned a kick 87 yards for another. He also intercepted a pass and played a strong defensive game in the secondary.
“I’m sure there’s a couple of kids down south, but (he’s) as good as anybody in my book,” Cony coach Robby Vachon said.
Shostak had plenty of help on both sides of the ball. Junior quarterback Ben Lucas completed 26 of 45 passes for 359 yards and three touchdowns. Lucas, who also rushed for a touchdown, now has 13 touchdown passes in four games.
“I think we have the best skill positions in the state,” said Lucas, who completed passes to all five of his receivers. “It’s nice having that as a quarterback. We put in a couple of new formations this week they hadn’t seen before. I thought that helped.”
The win was the third straight for Cony (3-1), which faces another hurdle at Brunswick next week, while Bangor falls to 1-3.
“They’re better than we are, in all aspects of the game,” Bangor coach Mark Hackett said. “We’re not good enough to not have three captains on the field but I don’t think it would have mattered tonight.”
Bangor was missing quarterback Carl Farnham, who has a broken bone in his hand but did score on a fake punt, while backs Cody Chapman and Zeb Tuell saw limited action. Tuell scored from 71 yards out on the third play of the game, but Cony came back to tie the game when Brandon St. Michel swept left for a 15-yard score.
Lucas was picked off at the Bangor 1 early in the second quarter, but freshman linebacker Reid Shostak broke through the line on the next play and nailed Tuell in the end zone for a safety. Lucas continued to find receivers in the first half, throwing for 225 yards to Shostak, Tayler Carrier, St. Michel, Dayshawn Roberts and Jonathan Sabin.
Chandler Shostak caught a pass over the middle as he was hit and leaned into the end zone to make it 16-7. He caught a second TD pass in the second quarter from 5 yards out to up the lead to 23-7. Farnham faked a punt and ran 76 yards as Bangor cut into Cony’s lead but Shostak returned the ensuing kick 87 yards to give Cony a 30-13 lead at the half.
St. Michel caught a screen pass and scored from 15 yards out in the third quarter as the Rams pushed the lead to 43-13. Charlie Hallak scored Cony’s final touchdown in the fourth quarter as the reserves took over.
Gary Hawkins — 621-5638
ghawkins@centralmaine.com
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