Tailback Mike Prentiss carries the Rams past the Cougars with three touchdowns.
By Randy Whitehouse
Staff Writer

BANGOR – After Bangor tailback Mike Prentiss burned them for 329 yards the last time they saw him, Mt. Blue knew it would have to contain the talented senior if it had any shot of pulling off an upset in Friday night’s Pine Tree Conference semifinal at Cameron Stadium.

For a half, it looked like the Cougars had the game plan they needed, but then simple attrition took over. The Mt. Blue defense wore out, and Prentiss feasted, running for 201 of his 273 yards on the night.

Prentiss included three touchdowns among his 37 carries, and added a fumble recovery for a touchdown, to lead top-seeded Bangor to a 40-21 win over No. 4 Mt. Blue. The Rams (9-1) will host No. 2 Brunswick next week for the PTC championship.

“Their line wore us down,” said Mt. Blue coach Gary Parlin, whose team held Prentiss to short gains, save for one 47-yard run, in the first half. “Our goal was to keep him out of our secondary because once he gets into the secondary, I don’t care what team it is, he’s a tremendous back.”

“Mike amazes me every time he plays,” said Bangor coach Mark Hackett. “He never says die.”

Prentiss broke open a tight 19-13 game with TD runs of 11 and 78 yards on consecutive Bangor possessions in the fourth quarter. By that time, Bangor’s offensive line of Trevor Lagrange, Eric Anderson, Kyle Oliver, Danny Day, Kevin Flynn and P.J. Dowe had pounded down a Mt. Blue defense that hadn’t given up a point in the playoffs going into last night.

“Our line is huge and they keep on pounding their opponent,” said Prentiss, who converted from wide receiver this year. “Early on, (Mt. Blue) had a lot of energy and they found the holes and they’d just tackle me right there. I knew sooner or later those holes would break open.”

Mt. Blue did indeed come out with a lot of energy at the start. The Cougars (7-3) took the opening drive 56 yards on 12 plays and Derek Taber pounded it up the gut from two yards out for an early 6-0 lead.

Things went downhill from there for the Cougars, but give them credit for not buckling early. The PAT was missed, and Bangor followed immediately with a scoring drive of its own. On fourth-and-10, QB Shaun Sullivan (4-10, 40 yards, two INTs) found Flynn behind the Cougar secondary for an 18-yard score.

On the first play of Mt. Blue’s next drive, Prentiss scooped up a fumble at the 32 and coasted untouched into the end zone to make it 13-6.

Things appeared to get worse for Mt. Blue when kicker Jordan Heath followed with a short line drive on the ensuing kickoff that Dowe recovered at the Mt. Blue 36. But the Cougar defense held.

Mt. Blue’s offense never found a rhythm, however, and the Cougars were stranded in their own territory for the rest of the first half.

“We just weren’t able to sustain,” Parlin said. “In that first drive, we had all positive yardage plays. We really believed if we could score 20 points we could win with the way our defense has been playing, but hats off to their offense.”

“Maybe that (first touchdown drive by Mt. Blue) woke us up. We didn’t really make any adjustments. We just kept doing the same stuff, but maybe better,” said Hackett. “We had three packages we wanted to do and we wanted to keep them guessing. When they guessed right, they got a little more than when they didn’t.”

With 19.7 seconds left in the half, Prentiss dove in from the one to make it a 19-6 game.

Bangor kept Mt. Blue’s answer to Prentiss, tailback Lance Meader (27 carries, 134 yards) fairly well bottled up until the Cougars’ second possession of the second half. That’s when Meader split between blocks by Pete Tinguely (five catches, 79 yards) and Jake Richards and flew down the left sideline for a 32-yard touchdown. John Moloney’s PAT just barely cleared the crossbar to make it 19-13.

Bangor meticulously stole the momentum back on its ensuing drive, however, marching from its own 22 to paydirt when Prentiss made his 11-yard TD jaunt on the 14th play of the drive to make it 27-13. After the defense forced Mt. Blue to punt, Bangor started from its own 22 again. The Rams only needed to hand the ball to Prentiss once this time, as he flew down the left sideline for a 78-yard TD run that put the game away.

Meader added a seven-yard TD run and Nick Payson (11 carries, 50 yards), who had a strong second half, finished the scoring with a 1-yard score.