High school football: Emery's late TD rescues Bears

READFIELD — Never has a 1-yard run meant more for Luke Emery and his teammates. The tailback's 1-yard touchdown run on fourth down with 51 seconds remaining lifted Maranacook to a 34-29 victory over Oak Hill at the Ricky Gibson Memorial Field of Dreams complex.

The win vaulted the Black Bears (4-4) into the Class C regional playoffs next week, while the loss may send the playoff bound Raiders (4-4) on the road next weekend.

Trailing by three points following a Josh Prue (16 carries for 41 yards) 1-yard score, the Black Bears began a 16-play march from their own 20 with just over eight minutes left in the game. Emery (21 rushes for 105 yards) began the drive with a 12-yard burst around the right side. Two plays later, the Raider secondary was flagged with a 15-yard penalty for pass interference as Black Bear tight end Ben Johnson was hit from behind before the ball arrived. That gave the home squad a first down on its own 44.

A 19-yard pass from James Mrazik to Erik Ogren moved the chains and put the ball on the Raider 31. From there, the Black Bears relied on their running game with Connor Lacasse and Emery sharing the load. Emery went up the middle for nine yards and a first down, but needed to come out of the game. Three straight runs by Lacasse set the stage for Emery's game winner. Emery took the handoff from Mrazik and burrowed his way to paydirt for his third score of the game.

"We needed that touchdown," Emery said. "I was just trucking. I put my head down and drove forward."

The Raiders, playing without injured starting tailback Josh Allen, displayed an effective passing game as Brett Turcotte connected on 13-of-23 passes for 187 yards. Ben Foss was his favorite target. He hauled in five passes for 88 yards and a touchdown.

On their final drive, the Raiders reached the Black Bear 30 with 20 seconds left, but a sack by Travis Godbout and two incompletions ended the game.

"We just didn't play well," Oak Hill coach Dave Wing said. "They wanted to get to into the playoffs and we played like we were satisfied."

Maranacook jumped to an early 10-0 lead on a safety and an Emery 25-yard touchdown run.

But the game featured many momentum swings, and the second quarter belonged to the visitors. Turcotte found Foss for a 20-yard score, and a pair of short touchdown runs by Cody DePuy and Prue put the Raiders up 20-10.

The Black Bears got back into the game in the third quarter on the benefit of three straight turnovers by the Raider offense.

After a fumble, Mrazik hit the 6-foot, 7-inch Johnson on a beautiful 17-yard scoring pass. The ball was batted up into the air by an Oak Hill defender only to see Johnson tip the ball himself and catch it while taking a hard shot from another defensive back.

Johnson would later haul in a 41-yard halfback pass from Emery to set up Emery's second score.

"He's a big target," Wing said. "If you front him, he jumps over you. If you play behind, you can't get around him. He presents some problems."

"We couldn't beat them running the ball the whole game," Maranacook coach Joe Emery said. "They're too good a tackling team."