The Lions’ Paul Harman and Josh Aldus combine for five touchdowns.
By Bob McPhee
Staff Writer

WINSLOW – There is a certain point in a football game when it’s necessary to take control of the situation.

That’s exactly what the Belfast Area High School team did to win its second-straight Class B Eastern regional football championship Saturday afternoon.

The tandem of Paul Harman and Josh Aldus combined for five rushing touchdowns as Belfast erupted in the second half to pull away for a decisive 35-14 win against previously unbeaten Winslow at gusty Poulin Memorial Field.

Belfast leads the all-time series 12-11 against Winslow.

It was the Lions’ defense that rose to the occasion as they limited the normally explosive Winslow offense to less than 50 yards in the final 24 minutes.

Middle linebacker Steve Cummings, tackles Ronnie Morse and Chris Hubbard and bookends Nate Littlefield and James Potvin applied too much pressure in the Black Raiders backfield, sacking quarterback Josh LaPointe three times.

Belfast (8-2) will play Gorham in the state championship game next Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.

The late-blooming Lions caught fire by avenging their regular-season setbacks in the playoffs.

“We were fired up in the second half,” Harman said. “We had the (momentum) at the beginning of the game, but then we lost it. The key is being able to get it back and fortunately we did. Our defense deserves a lot of credit.”

Belfast gained field position by starting all three drives of the third quarter in Winslow territory. The drive ended in a missed field-goal attempt, but the Lions forced Winslow to punt again and also recovered a fumble.

Two plays into the fourth quarter, Aldus (114 yards, 19 rushes) ran in the eventual game winning score from five yards. The Lions rushed in the conversion to lead 20-14 with 11:51 left in the game.

“This just feels awesome,” Aldus said.

“I know how disappointed we were after the state game last year, but now we have a second chance. Winslow is a talented team and we knew it coming in today, but today we made the plays.”

Winslow, which concludes its season at 9-1, scored twice in the second quarter to lead 14-12 at halftime. Jared Maroon forced a fumble and senior Marty McCaslin (42 yards, seven rushes) bolted up the middle for a 27-yard TD.

The Black Raiders defense stiffened and Belfast was forced to punt.

McCaslin scored again from three yards out with 44.2 seconds left in the first half. Ben Poulin kicked both PATs.

Harman (167 yards, 15 rushes) had set the tone by running 40 yards for a TD on the first play from the line of scrimmage.

Aldus also scored in the first quarter.

The Lions took care of matters in the fourth quarter. A holding call negated a long TD, but two plays later Harman broke loose and sprinted down the right sideline for a 55-yard TD.

A key play was a 20-yard pass reception from QB Nick Arthers to Tim Morley. Following a Winslow turnover, Harman ran in a 13-yard TD.

“We had challenged our defense at halftime,” Belfast coach Butch Arthers said. “They had been doing a good job, but we wanted them to be more aggressive and play with some emotion. We only made a minor adjustment during halftime, but we didn’t alter our game plan at all.” Winslow’s Derek Runnells, leading rusher in the Pine Tree Conference, gained 62 yards on 18 rushes. The Black Raiders made one of seven third-down conversions through three quarters.