GARDINER – J.T. Williams is back and he made sure to let everyone know it.

The Mt. Blue senior captain — who spent the past two and a half weeks nursing a sprained left MCL — recovered a fumble and an onside kick and scored three touchdowns to lead Mt. Blue High School to a 42-22 win over Gardiner Friday night at Hoch Field.

“It’s awesome. It was a long two weeks and getting back out here felt awesome,” Williams, who also rushed for 160 yards on 24 carries, said. “We were excited all week this week and brought that to the defensive side and I think that’s why we did so well on defense.”

The Cougars turned four Gardiner turnovers into four touchdowns, two of which came on the Tigers’ first two possession of the game.

“Two turnovers on the first two drives, a big two scores,” Gardiner coach Matt Burgess said. “You can’t out yourself in a 14-point hole.”

Despite facing an uphill battle throughout the game after falling into a 14-0 deficit within the first six minutes of the contest, the Tigers continued to battle.

Gardiner was within a touchdown, 21-14, after a 3-yard plunge from Tyler Caron with 20 seconds in the half, but would trail by 14 points at halftime after Nate Pratt-Holt returned the ensuing kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown.

It would be the prevailing theme for Gardiner on Friday night, as each time it got within striking distance the Cougars had the answer.

The Tigers stopped Mt. Blue on the opening possession of the second half and then marched 47 yards for a touchdown on a 13-yard pass from Eli Kropp to Chase Begin with 4 minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Another Gardiner stop gave the Tigers the ball back, but turnovers would continue to give Mt. Blue the edge it needed as Pratt-Holt picked off Kropp on the opening play of the fourth quarter.

Just six plays later Williams scored his third touchdown of the game from three yards out to put Mt. Blue up 35-22, and it would be all Cougars from there.

Gardiner coughed the ball up deep in its own territory just two plays into its next possession, and two plays later Ryan Pratt sealed the Mt. Blue win with a 4-yard touchdown run with 9:08 remaining in the final quarter.

After the game Mt. Blue coach Jim Aylward remarked that it was more than Williams’ production, but his presence as well that had an impact on the Cougars.

“J.T. is a weapon that we have been missing now for two and a half weeks. We’ve struggled offensively without him,” Aylward said. “It’s amazing how everyone picks their game up a little bit when they see him come back.

“It was a team effort tonight. Obviously J.T. is a big difference but we’ve got to get healthy. They talk about the injury bug and for us it’s been more than a bug. It’s been like an injury animal or something but we have to work through it.”

Evan Crawley – 621-5640

[email protected]

Twitter: @Evan_Crawley