SKOWHEGAN — Take away a few mistakes, and the Skowhegan football team would probably be undefeated. But it seems like a lot of Maine high school football teams will be saying that this year.

Three of Brunswick’s touchdowns were set up by Skowhegan mistakes. That, combined with the running of Alex Bandouveres and Will Bessey, lifted the Dragons to a 34-21 Pine Tree Conference Class B victory Friday night at Clark Field.

Bandouveres gained 165 yards on 21 carries, and Bessey rushed 20 times for 68 yards. Skowhegan’s Nate Morris ran for two touchdowns and passed for another. Also for the Indians, Kaleb Brown rushed for 92 yards on 17 attempts.

“It was a great game,” Skowhegan coach Matt Friedman said. “We played excellent, but we made a few mistakes that were very costly. We need to clean a few things up, but I think if we can play four quarters of football at a high level we’re going to be with anybody this year.”

Morris’ touchdown pass went for 72 yards to Eli Holland. Earlier, Brunswick blocked a punt to set up a 4-yard touchdown pass from Tom Hanson to Ricky Klatt.

The teams traded touchdowns again, as Bandouveres scored from a yard out — after Skowhegan kept the drive alive with a roughing the kicker penalty — and Morris dashed 20 yards for a score on a quarterback draw.

Brunswick got the ball back on its own 40 with 1:04 to play in the half. On first down, Bandouveres rushed 53 yards to the Skowhegan 7-yard line. On the next play, Bandouveres went in, and the Dragons led 20-13 at the half.

Skowhegan went back ahead in the third quarter when Morris went 19 yards on another quarterback draw, and Brown bulled in for the two-point conversion for a 21-20 lead.

Sam Baker preserved the lead with an end zone interception, but the Skowhegan defense, which was led by outstanding games from Gus Benson and Ryan Prentiss, was finally asked to do too much.

Early in the fourth quarter, Morris was hit just as he fielded a punt (or just before, depending on your view). The ball bounced away and Brunswick recovered at the Skowhegan 6. Three plays later, Bessey scored from the 2, and the two-point conversion made it 28-21.

“All I can tell you is what the officials told me, was that (Morris) touched the ball before he was hit so it’s a live ball,” Friedman said.

The Dragons put the game away when Bessey scored on a double-handoff play on fourth and goal from the 6 with 1:31 left.

Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243

mdifilippo@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @Matt_DiFilippo