SOUTH PARIS – They felt the thrill of potential victory and the agony of defeat without the game clock moving a single second.

The Oxford Hills Vikings last-minute touchdown had them one extra point shy of forcing overtime Saturday, but the kick sailed wide allowing Gardiner to escape with a narrow 21-20 win.

“I would have been happy as heck going into overtime,” said Oxford Hills coach Paul Bickford. “My field goal kicker is excellent. He has a strong leg. My special teams are really good. I thought we had an edge over them special teams-wise going into overtime.”

The Vikings (3-4) never had the chance to find out. Down 21-14 with 2:25 left, Oxford Hills needed a defensive stand to get the ball back. The Vikings stuffed the Tigers (6-1) on three rushing plays and got the ball back at their own 46 with 1:59 left.

“That was big,” said Bickford. “We wasted all of our timeouts, but we had plenty of time to move the ball down the field.”

Ben Ryerson hit Chris McVety and Dan Magoon on pass plays and a Jim Bower run helped move the Vikings down to the 5. Bower carried it it in with 44 seconds left in regulation.

The Vikings lined up for the extra point, but kicker Alex Waite’s attempt went wide right.

“We were just thinking about getting ready for overtime,” said Gardiner coach Matt Brown. “I really feel for the Oxford Hills kicker. He’s a good football player. What you had today was two teams that deserved to win, and it just doesn’t work that way.”

Oxford Hills had battled its way back from a 14-0 deficit. Two pass plays had created a ealry deficit for the Vikings to overcome. Devon Brown returned an interception 35 yards for a 7-0 lead with 35 seconds left in the opening quarter. Then a nifty 35-yard pass from Kyle Stilphen to Brandon LeBourdais made it 14-0 with 10:40 left in the half.

“They responded,” said Bickford. “They came back. Gardiner’s an excellent football team, but I was happy with the way my kids responded. We were down early, and we kept clawing back.”

The Vikings got on the board with 6:19 left in the half when Ryerson connected with McVety on a 32-yard pass play. The Vikings had two chances to add to that before halftime. A blocked punt by Drew Davis gave the Vikes fine field position, but that possession only went backwards thanks to a fumble and a pass play that went for minus-five yards. Oxford Hills got another chance late and got to the 21 where three straight passes fell incomplete. The Vikings did get a pass interference call on Davis in the end zone, giving them one play from the 10 with no time left. That pass also went incomplete.

“We had our chances,” said Bickford. “Before the half, we had a chance. We had some fourth downs that we didn’t make. Those are more keys to me than missing an extra point.”

The Vikings tied the game on the opening kickoff of the second half when Magoon returned it 96 yards. Interceptions by Chris Jennings and Jeff Tifft ended Tiger possessions and gave the Vikings field position, but Oxford Hills couldn’t convert.

Gardiner’s only lengthy drive of the second half totalled 75 yards. Brown took a Stilphen pass, bowled over a tackler and scored on a 19-yard play with 10:15 left in the game.

“Our offensive line has the potential to take control of the game,” said Brown. “So far when we’ve had to do that, we’ve been able to.”