THORNDIKE — On Wednesday, the Mt. View High School football team worked out with United States Marines. On Saturday, that intense workout paid off.

The Mustangs scored 14 points in the fourth quarter, and took the lead on Kenny McGray’s 1-yard touchdown run with 26.4 seconds left, earning their first win of the season with a 20-18 come-from-behind victory over Maine Central Institute.

Wednesday’s training session with the Marines was the most intense workout many of the Mustangs have ever had.

“It was pretty tough,” said senior running back Will Nunn, who ran for 232 yards and a pair of touchdowns Saturday. “Most of our teammates wanted to puke.”

“The Marines made these guys find things inside themselves they didn’t know they could do. That was very good for us,” Mt. View coach Jack Brady said. “The following day, they were very excited about the potential they felt like they had.”

Trailing 18-6 at the start of the fourth quarter, Mt. View (1-5) scored on the first play of the quarter when Nunn went 65 yards for a touchdown. Jake Blanchett ran in the 2-point conversion and MCI’s lead was 18-14.

“Coach told me we needed to score. They called my favorite play, B5 Dive,” Nunn said.

Nunn gained 103 yards in the fourth quarter.

“He’s one of the better backs in the league and I know they’re having a rough season, but he’s one of the best backs we’ve seen this season,” MCI head coach Tom Bertrand said.

It looked like Mt. View’s best chance to take the lead vanished when Nunn fumbled on the Huskies’ 16-yard line with five and a half minutes left in the game. But three plays later, linebacker Ricky Moulton intercepted a tipped pass at the MCI 19, giving the Mustangs the ball with 3:25 to play. It was the first interception of Moulton’s career.

“They hit (the ball). I saw it. I caught it,” Moulton said. “It just happened so quick. It was there.”

Quarterback Kenny McGray kept the drive alive with an 8-yard gain on fourth-and 6 from the 15. After Nunn ran for 3 yards on first down, a false start pushed the Mustangs back to the 9. A pair of Nunn carries set Mt. View up for fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line. Brady called timeout, but there was no debate over the play call. It was going to be a quarterback sneak.

“We wanted to run behind (center) Ricky Moulton,” Brady said. “We’ve got a big, strong line this year. If we can’t get a line surge out of those big boys, then we can’t do anything.”

MCI (0-6) fumbled away the ensuing kickoff and Mt. View took a knee to end the game. That fumble was MCI’s sixth turnover of the game and fifth giveaway of the second half.

“We said before the game, this is pretty much going to be a slugfest. Turnovers have plagued us all year and we needed to start winning the turnover battle,” Bertrand said. “We turned the ball over in the second half and it cost us.”

Mt. View took a 6-0 lead in the first quarter on a 5-yard run by Nunn, but the Huskies took control of the game in the second quarter. Jonathan Santiago tied the game with a 43-yard touchdown run and Eric Hathaway gave the Huskies the lead with a 1-yard touchdown run.

With 1:50 left in the first half, freshman quarterback Greg Vigue, playing for injured Patrick Noonan, found Austin Tolman with a 21-yard touchdown pass for an 18-6 lead. Vigue finished the game with 94 yards passing. Noonan, who has an elbow problem and can’t throw, played running back and gained 65 yards on 14 carries.

“We decided we’d take the conservative route and give Greg a chance. We have confidence in him and Patrick’s a real good athlete. He ran the ball hard for us,” Bertrand said.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

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