BRUNSWICK — Twenty seconds into Friday night’s Pine Tree Conference Class B championship game, top-seed Brunswick trailed by a touchdown. As it turned out, the deficit was nothing but a fleeting setback.
“Once we got back that touchdown, we were OK,” Brunswick running back Will Bessey said. “Our offense, our vanilla offense, was working for us.”
The Dragons scored on their first five possessions, and despite spotting Lawrence the early lead, cruised to a 48-19 win.
The win gave the Dragons their first Pine Tree Conference title since winning Class A in 2003. Brunswick, now 9-1, will play the winner of Saturday’s Western Class B final between Marshwood and York in the Class B state championship game next Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland. The time for that game will be announced on Monday.
No. 3 Lawrence ends the season at 8-3.
“They’re a powerful running team. It’s hard to simulate everything they do in a short week,” Lawrence coach John Hersom said.
Lawrence capitalized on the opening kickoff, a low line drive that was recovered by the Bulldogs at the Brunswick 47. Cole Robinson ran for 32 yards on the first play, and caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Cody Martin on the next play for a 6-0 lead. The kick was not an intentional onside try from kicker Jacob Lennon, Hersom said.
“It was probably a kick that was cold. It worked out in our favor,” Hersom said.
Bessey started Brunswick’s scoring barrage with a 3-yard touchdown run on the Dragon’s first drive, giving his team a 7-6 lead. Quarterback Tom Hanson scored on a 1-yard keeper on Brunswick’s next drive, and the lead was 14-6.
Martin connected with Dustin Simpson-Bragg on a 75-yard touchdown pass with 3:01 left in the first to cut Brunswick’s lead to 14-13, but the Dragons scored 21 unanswered points before the half to take a 35-13 lead into the break. Cam Berry’s 8-yard run made it 21-13, and Bessey added an 8-yard score to make it 28-13. Fullback Alex Bandouveres scored on a 3-yard run with 1:24 left in the half.
“That kickoff that went in their favor, that brought us down, but we’ve faced adversity before,” Bessey, who ran for a game-high 203 yards, said.
While Brunswick’s offense thrived, Lawrence struggled to move the ball. The Bulldogs gained just one first down in the second quarter, as the Dragons contained Lawrence’s running attack.
“All week, we said we had to control our gaps,” Bandouveres said. “We played hard up front.”
Hanson threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Corban Teel midway through the third quarter to push Brunswick’s lead to 41-13. Bandouveres’ 21-yard interception return for a score a few minutes later was an exclamation point for the Dragons.
Martin connected with Simpson-Bragg (three catches, 121 yards) again in the fourth quarter, this time on a 31-yard touchdown pass.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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