The Hermon High School Hawks and Bangor High School Rams earned important football wins last weekend; Hampden edged upset-minded Brewer in a rivalry game and Ellsworth/Sumner topped Bucksport.
Hermon bests Oceanside 31-6
Bruce Coulter rushed for 120 yards and a touchdown and Ethan Curtis threw for 60 yards including a TD pass to Griffin Dunton as Hermon improved to 5-2.
Justin Largay and Dylan Yeo each rushed for a touchdown.
Hermon coach Kyle Gallant said his Hawks played their “best football game of the season” and that his offensive and defensive lines controlled the line of scrimmage.
“We played really good assignment football,” he added.
Freshman Dunton had an interception to go with his TD reception.
Oceanside, now 4-3, received 188 rushing yards from Zeb Foster, who was playing with a broken hand. He also scored the lone TD.
The Hawks defense held Oceanside to its lowest point total of the season.
Bangor rallies past N.H. team Winnacunnet 28-27
The Bangor High School Rams received a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown runs from junior quarterback Kyle Johnson following Winnacunnet turnovers and he rushed for the game-winning two-point conversion with 41 seconds remaining.
Bangor, now 2-5, was trailing 27-14 in the fourth quarter when Griffin Faulkner tipped a Sean Griffin pass and Eli Marsh intercepted it.
Johnson eventually scored on a six-yard run to cut the lead to 27-20.
Winnacunnet was marching for a clinching touchdown when Nevin Howell forced a fumble and Johnson recovered at the Bangor-18 yard line.
Johnson finished off a 14-play, 82-yard drive with a four-yard TD run on his eighth carry of the drive.
Bangor coach David Morris polled his players on whether they wanted to kick the extra point to tie it or go for the two-point conversion and the win and the players all wanted to go for two and it paid off when Johnson plunged into the end zone.
Johnson finished with 130 yards rushing and three TDs on 20 carries and he also threw for 156 yards as he completed nine of 19 passes including a TD pass to Fionn Parker-Cummings.
Mason McDonald rushed for 207 yards and three TDs on 18 carries for Winnacunnet, which was 4-2 entering the game.
“It wasn’t our best game but when it mattered the most, the guys really stepped it up,” said Morris.
Hampden tops Brewer 28-22
The Broncos were held to just 20 rushing yards by the Brewer defense so they decided to go to the air and it worked as Gavin Monyok completed 10 of 14 passes for 235 yards and two TDs, both to Aiden Kochendoerfer.
Kochendoerfer caught three passes for 132 yards. Kaysen Wildman had three catches for 19 yards and Andrew Cote snared two passes for 79 yards.
Cote and Evander Preston had TD runs.
Kaysen Wildman’s 18 tackles and Cote’s 10 keyed the defense.
Hampden Academy is now 4-3 while Brewer fell to 1-6.
Ellsworth/Sumner upends Bucksport 66-14
Ripley Scott scored seven touchdowns as he carried the ball 12 times for 354 yards in leading Ellsworth/Sumner past Bucksport in Eight-Man North Small (schools) football.
Ellsworth/Sumner avenged a 60-6 playoff loss to the Bucks last fall.
Thomas Jude completed 4-of-11 passes for 100 yards.
Nick Debeck carried the ball 22 times for 143 yards to lead the Bucks.
Ellsworth/Sumner will take a 6-1 record into a Saturday afternoon showdown with Stearns/Schenck, also 6-1. Game time in Millinocket is 1:00.
Bucksport dropped to 3-4.
