BRUNSWICK — Ben Lucas raced down the near sideline and jumped into the arms of fellow Cony senior John Bennett.

Charlie Hallak and a swarm of Rams followed into the celebratory pile.

Under a bright, white moon and peaceful skies Friday night, the Cony football team made history.

Lucas completed 27 of 44 passes for 369 yards and five touchdowns to lead the No. 2 Rams past top-seeded Brunswick 48-38 in the Pine Tree Conference Class B title game.

Cony will play for its first football tournament state championship in school history Friday night against either Marshwood or Kennebunk at the University of Maine at Orono.

“We’ve worked hard for this,” Cony coach Robby Vachon said. “This is a dream come true for us. We finally did it. We finally made history.”

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With his five touchdown receptions, Lucas set the Maine state record with 86 in his career. Former Winthrop standout Lee St. Hilaire held the previous mark of 84.

“It’s a special feeling,” Lucas said, “but I don’t do it without all my receivers. What a night. This is the first time we’ve ever done this. It’s a special feeling. It wasn’t easy, though.”

No, it wasn’t.

Brunswick (7-3), which gained 375 rushing yards, held leads of 7-0 and 14-7 in the first quarter and controlled the line of scrimmage early.

“We dominated them early,” Brunswick coach Dan Cooper said. “We had them early.”

The Dragons grabbed a 24-21 lead before Cony engineered a scoring drive late in the half to seize control of the game.

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With 1:26 left in the half, Cony (8-2) took over at its own 30-yard line and marched 70 yards for the back-breaking score.

Hallak finished the nine-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. Lucas completed four passes for 54 yards on the drive.

“That was a killer,” Cooper said. “We had all the momentum and should’ve gone into the half with a lead. But then they moved the ball down and scored. It was frustrating.”

Added Lucas: “It was huge. That gave us a lot of momentum.”

And the Rams carried it over in the second half.

Lucas hit Tayler Carrier for a 28-yard touchdown four minutes into the third quarter to help give Cony a 35-24 lead.

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The Rams then pulled away when Lucas found John Bennett for a 35-yard touchdown with 4 seconds left in the quarter.

“Unbelievable,” Bennett said. “We were able to make some plays.”

Lucas McCue, who rushed for a team-high 161 yards, rushed for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough for Brunswick.

“We’ve wanted this so bad,” Lucas said. “We made history and it feels awesome .”

Carrier finished with 10 catches for 101 yards while Jonathan Saban had eight catches for 133 yards. Bennett caught eight passes for 98 yards.

Alex Bandouveres rushed for 159 yards on 18 carriers for the Dragons.

Bill Stewart — 621-5640bstewart@centralmaine.comTwitter: @billstewartkj


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