AUGUSTA — It was a homecoming to remember for Chandler Shostak.

A senior wide receiver/defensive back, Shostak had four touchdown catches and two interceptions to lead the Cony football team to a 60-14 Pine Tree Conference Class A win Friday night over Skowhegan at Alumni Field.

“It’s not too bad,” Shostak said.

It wasn’t just Shostak’s night, however. Rams quarterback Ben Lucas surpassed 20 touchdown passes this season (22) throwing six in the victory. Cony (5-1), which has now won five consecutive games, jumped out to a 40-14 halftime lead and never looked back.

“We’re just rolling and rolling and gaining more confidence,” Shostak said. “We’ve got a tough one next week (against Lawrence), so you can’t get too confident.”

The game promised to be an aerial show between Lucas and Skowhegan quarterback Adam Clukey and it delivered. Lucas finished with 279 passing yards while Clukey had 156.

Turnovers ultimately hurt the Indians (2-4). Though Skowhegan struck first, the Indians turned the ball over on two consecutive drives, once on an interception thrown by Clukey, the next on a fumbled snap that was recovered by Rams defensive lineman Kyle Elvin.

Cony took the lead by converting the turnovers into touchdowns. Brandon St. Michel tied the game at 6 with a 2-yard touchdown run, then after Skowhegan’s first turnover, Lucas was able to find Shostak in the corner of the end zone for a 9-yard scoring strike, giving Cony a 13-6 lead.

“(Shostak’s) a gamer, he’s one of the best players in the state,” Cony coach Robby Vachon said. “Once again he showed up and I thought Benny played a great game, too.”

The Skowhegan fumble gave Cony the ball on the Indians’ 21-yard line. Four plays later, Lucas found Shostak again, this time on a 17-yard scoring strike to give the Rams a 20-6 lead.

“We’ve done a nice job defensively all year, we just don’t get a lot of credit for it,” Vachon said. “We came to play again tonight and I couldn’t be more proud of our kids with the way they played tonight.”

The Rams scored three more times in the second quarter. Lucas connected on two more scoring strikes, a 2-yard scoring toss to Shostak and an 11-yard strike to Dayshawn Roberts. St. Michel also added another touchdown run, a 38-yard scamper on an option play.

The Indians scored once more before the half when Clukey connected on a 41-yard touchdown pass to DJ Allen.

The Rams struck again to start the second half when Lucas connected with Tayler Carrier on a 5-yard touchdown toss to make it 47-14. Lucas hit Shostak for the fourth and final time late in the third quarter, on a double-move by Shostak in the end zone to complete a 12-yard scoring strike.

The Rams forced three more turnovers: A fumble recovery and late interceptions by Anthony Brunelle and Chris Murphy off Skowhegan backup quarterback Nathan Morris.

“Turnovers didn’t help, but we had a plan, tried to match up with them and it didn’t come through,” Skowhegan coach Matt Friedman said. “We kept fighting and gave it what we could.”

Mitchell Caron took over at quarterback for the Rams in the fourth quarter, adding a 5-yard touchdown run to bring the score to 60-14.

Dave Dyer — 621-5639

ddyer@centralmaine.com

 

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