GORHAM – The Mountain Valley football team knew the challenge before them.

After absorbing a 50-20 pounding at Gorham last Saturday, the third-seeded Falcons had to find to way to slow down the potent Rams’ offense Friday night.

Mountain Valley did that, for the most part, but it still wasn’t enough in a 15-6 Western Class B semifinal loss.

No. 2 Gorham (7-2) travels to No. 1 Wells (9-0) in next weekend’s championship game. The Warriors fought off Lake Region, 26-22, in Friday’s other semifinal.

“They’re talented,” said Mountain Valley coach Jim Aylward. “The fact that we held them to 15 points, it says a lot for our kids. We could have come back and folded after last week. We got outscored at one point last week, 50-7. But a pat on the back and a nice effort doesn’t give us a chance to play next week. My heart goes out to our kids. I think we played as well as we could have.”

With the exception of a 46-yard drive that ran out the clock in the final minutes, the Rams (7-2) had only one lengthy drive that turned into points. That was enough, though.

Gorham got an Andy Oldenburg touchdown run and a blocked punt that was recovered in the end zone to overcome a 6-0 deficit and a stunning opening half by the Falcons.

“The first half, they just pounded us,” said Gorham coach Dave Kilborn, whose team won its first playoff game ever in its third try, the first at home. “The line was coming in. They were outplaying us. They were dominating the game. Basically, what we tried to do at halftime was to get the line fired up and have them look at the little picture. Look at their responsibilities, their job, and once they took care of that, we were able to run the ball.”

Gorham managed just one first down and 46 total yards in the first half. The Rams started the second half with a nice run, only to watch the ball get fumbled away to the Falcons.

Mountain Valley (6-3) cashed in with 5:59 left in the third. Chris Smith ran over a tackler and took it in from the 2 for the 6-0 lead.

“That got us all pumped up,” said Oldenburg. “Once we get pumped up, we’re very hard to stop.”

The Falcons discovered that, as Gorham marched the ball downfield 68 yards on 12 running plays. Oldenburg zig-zagged his way in from the 9. Then he ran behind some strong blocking on the left side for the conversion and an 8-6 lead with 1:03 left in the quarter.

“All we needed to do was play together,” said Oldenburg, who finished with 73 yards on 18 carries.

Tyson Nash led the Rams with 77 yards on 20 carries.

“If we play together and have blocks, our running backs will hit the holes, and that’s what we did,” Oldenburg added.

The Falcons struggled to answer that score. After the defense stopped Gorham early in the fourth, a fumbled punt put Mountain Valley back at the 2.

That proved critical a few plays later. Forced to punt from the 10, Nash led a contingent that blocked the Falcons’ kick, and John MacKenzie fell on the ball in the end zone for the 15-6 lead with seven minutes left in the game.

“That was a big play,” said Kilborn. “It gave us some breathing room and didn’t put as much pressure on our offense.”

The Falcons, who amassed just 113 total yards, only had the ball once more and were forced to punt from their own 35.

Gorham was able to run out the clock from there, but not before drawing the ire of Aylward. A quarterback bootleg for 35 yards and a first down upset the Mountain Valley coach. He refused a penalty on the play in the final minute and confronted Kilborn about what he perceived as Gorham’s attempt to run up the score.

“Gorham’s outstanding,” said Aylward. “Our kids played their hearts out. They don’t give consolation prizes in the playoffs. You just go home.”

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