By Michael Hoffer
MaxPreps.com
STANDISH, Maine – Fans in Standish Friday night saw a highly-anticipated high school football game that not only lived up to expectations, it surpassed them.
Defending Class A state champion Bonny Eagle hosted an undefeated, hungry Deering squad with bragging rights and postseason positioning on the line.
Bonny Eagle led most of the way before uncharacteristically breaking down late. Deering scored 15 points late in the fourth quarter to sneak out of town with an entertaining 29-28 decision.
Deering entered the game with a 5-0 mark, having outscored its opponents by a composite 208-60 margin. Bonny Eagle was 4-1, but that was only because the Scots had to forfeit an easy victory over Westbrook due to the use of an ineligible player.
Bonny Eagle has won three of the past four Class A state championships and had won six of seven against Deering in that span.
This one would be compelling throughout.
The host Scots scored first, driving 85 yards on nine plays, eating up over four minutes of clock. Bonny Eagle made it 7-0 when standout senior quarterback Nate Doehler scored on a 1-yard run.
Deering answered 14 seconds later when sophomore Sam Balzano returned a kickoff 91 yards. The extra point was blocked, leaving the Scots on top, 7-6.
Early in the second period, Bonny Eagle capped a 71-yard drive on just its third play when Doehler threw a 36-yard TD pass to junior Joe Davis. The extra point put the Scots on top, 14-6, at the half.
The second half would be wild.
Bonny Eagle got the ball to start and embarked on its best drive of the night, a 74-yard, 11-play march which ate up more than half of the third period. Doehler and senior Josh Ruby handled the ball exclusively, with Doehler rushing five times for 32 yards and Ruby carrying six times for 49 yards, including a 5-yard TD burst that made it 20-6 with 5:37 to go in the period. A bad snap short-circuited the extra point (a point that would prove to be enormous) and the Scots had a seemingly solid 20-6 advantage.
To its credit, Deering promptly answered, returning to basics by putting the ball in the hands of senior star Jack Heary, who touched it only nine times in the first 24 minutes.
A 33-yard Heary scamper moved the ball from the Rams' 38 to the Bonny Eagle 29. Sophomore quarterback Jamie Ross then found sophomore John Hardy for a 14-yard pass, and runs of 5 and 4 yards by Heary put the ball at the 4. Senior Matt Alves then did the honors, barreling in for a 4-yard TD. Ross kicked the extra point and with 3:31 to play in the third, it was a 20-14 game.
When Bonny Eagle capped a 62-yard, nine-play drive with a 20-yard Doehler-to-Max Alfiero TD pass and added a two-point conversion with 9:56 to go, its lead was 28-14 and Deering appeared to be on the ropes.
Au contraire.
With 3:23 left, Heary ran for a 20-yard TD and Ross hit Alves for the two-point conversion. Bonny Eagle then needed just a pair of first downs to clinch the win, but after moving the chains once, Rams' senior Ernie Salamone forced and recovered a fumble at the Scots' 32 with 1:33 remaining.
Fourteen seconds later, Deering was on top for the first time when Ross (8-of-17, 99 yards, one TD) floated a 30-yard TD pass down the right sideline to a wide-open Balzano. Ross' extra point was true and the Rams were up 29-28.
Of course, anytime Nate Doehler's on the field, a game is never over, and sure enough the Scots drove from their 12 to the Rams' 36 as time wound down. Doehler completed 4-of-6 passes for 28 yards and ran twice for 24 yards to set the stage.
The game, fittingly, came down to one final play.
Doehler rolled right, gave his receivers time to get into the end zone, then launched a prayer toward Davis. Trouble was, he was triple-covered and Heary provided the exclamation point for the epic win by leaping high to rein in the interception that made Deering's 29-28 victory official.
“This is the best game I've played in,” said a jubilant Heary (18 carries, 134 yards and a TD), moments after the game. “We never lost confidence. This is a family. I've said that before. We never give up and we always try our hardest. I'm so proud of my teammates right now.”
Bonny Eagle finished with 385 yards, but three turnovers helped seal its doom. Doehler ran for 147 yards and a TD on 18 carries and completed 10-of-20 passes for 141 yards, with two TDs and an interception. Ruby had 99 yards and a score on 19 carries.
“I think you have to give credit to Deering for making a great defensive play,” Bonny Eagle coach Kevin Cooper said. “Ernie Salamone is a great player. A great linebacker. They caught us on the blitz and we didn't pick them up. We were trying to get the ball back to Ruby on the play and they made a great play to force a fumble. I don't think that was the play of the game. They started to take control in the third quarter and took it away from us. You have to give credit to Deering for doing that.”
Bonny Eagle (4-2) returns to action Friday at 2-4 Portland.
Deering hosts 2-4 South Portland Friday. The Rams now have the inside track on the top seed and will relish this victory, but they know that if all goes as expected (and as local football fans fervently hope), they will see the defending champs once more.
“It's a great win, but it doesn't mean anything because we know we'll see these guys again,” Heary said. “This is great for morale, but that's the game that counts.”
Michael Hoffer is the sports editor of The Forecaster, a family of weekly newspapers based in Falmouth. Michael can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net.
