OAKLAND — It needed this. More importantly, the Messalonskee football team needed it to happen like this.

Blowing a late lead to Edward Little a week ago was never going to sit well, especially for a team that did so by giving up more than 30 points for the third straight game. Yet not only did the Eagles bounce back Friday night, they did so as their defense came through in a 13-6 victory over Gardiner.

“We really challenged the boys to step it up on that side of the ball, play good defense and tackle,” said Messalonskee head coach Blair Doucette. “We don’t think we’ve played up to our potential defensively so far, so we’re really, really happy with the effort that they put in tonight.”

Messalonskee held Gardiner to a lone touchdown despite four trips inside the 25-yard line and outgained the Tigers 315-201. Tatum Doucette completed 8 of 15 passes for 90 yards and a touchdown and ran for 104 yards for the Eagles, who also got a pair of 40-yard field goals from Fin Minkel.

“‘Bend, don’t break,’ that’s been the motto since Day 1,” said Messalonskee’s Drake Brunelle, who had two interceptions in the victory. “All week, it’s been about defense; tackle, tackle, tackle, that was the three keys to success this week. We made some plays.”

After both teams went three-and-out to start the game, Messalonskee (2-2) got the ball at midfield for its second possession after Gardiner botched the snap on a punt. Six plays later, the Eagles were in the end zone as Doucette found Denny Martin for a 4-yard touchdown pass on third-and-goal.

Gardiner (2-2) would step it up on defense, bookending a fumble recovery with two three-and-outs to get the ball at midfield with just under nine minutes left in the second quarter. On fourth-and-7, Owen Chadwick ran 25 yards for a touchdown before the Eagles blocked the PAT to make it 7-6 with 6:58 left in the half.

After Messalonskee got to the Gardiner 23 with three seconds left in the half, Minkel booted his first field goal of the night to put the Eagles up four. Although the Eagles fumbled the second-half kickoff at midfield, a Gardiner drive ended at the Messalonkee 15, setting up a 52-yard drive that culminated with Minkel’s second field goal.

“We call him ‘Money Minkel’ for a reason,” Doucette said of the sophomore. “He’s a great athlete in every sport that he plays, and he’s worked really hard in the offseason to become a kicker. We’re sure glad he’s on our sideline. Those were two big kicks for us.”

After Minkel’s second field goal, which came with 9:50 to play, Gardiner drove into Messalonskee territory but had its drive halted when Brunelle intercepted Gardiner quarterback Asher Nagy at the 10-yard line. The Eagles fumbled two players later but would again stop the Tigers on fourth-and-6 from the Messalonskee 8 before running out the clock.

The win marked the fourth one-score game in as many contests this year for Messalonskee. The Eagles had previously fallen 33-27 to Cony in Week 1, topped Hermon 35-34 in overtime in Week 2 and succumbed to a 36-34 defeat to Edward Little last week — not that those tight games came as any surprise to Coach Doucette.

“We’ve been telling them all year long that they’re the cardiac kids,” the Messalonskee coach said. “We’ve kind of expected all year long that we were going to have to fight for every game because we’re not the team we were last year. We knew we were going to have to be a scrappy team, and we’re proud of the boys.”

Hayden Pierce stepped into the starting running back role for Messalonskee with Landon Rancourt out injured and ran for 82 yards on 11 carries. Nagy was 9 of 18 for 78 yards and two interceptions for Gardiner, which got 86 yards on 16 carries from Chadwick in the loss.

For Gardiner, the defeat saw some worrying trends to continue. The Tigers had outgained Nokomis 324-38 last week but won just 14-8 as they failed to finish drives. That continued Friday as Gardiner turned the ball over on downs twice in the red zone while fumbling twice and throwing an interception in Messalonskee territory.

“We’ve really got to get to a spot where we can finish those,” said Gardiner head coach Pat Munzing. “We’re doing all the dirty up until the point where we’re able to score. If we can do that, I think we can be pretty dangerous, but we’ve got to get to a point where we’re able to finish.”