PORTLAND – It was not the most opportune time to break in a new punter.

With a narrow 13-7 lead and the Winslow Black Bears sensing their first momentum of the game Saturday, the Mountain Valley Falcons had no choice but to summon another kicker.

Though regular punter Travis Fergola had kicked well in Saturday’s Class B state championship, he had just left the game with an ankle injury. That forced Chris Lever to come in cold and give the Falcons the boot.

“I punted once this year,” said Lever. “That went 10 yards. It was crap luck on this one.”

Lever’s kick went 49 yards, setting back the Black Raiders to their own 7 with 8:52 to play. From there, the Falcons let its defense do that talking. Mountain Valley stuffed Winslow and then bulldozed its way down field for an insurance touchdown in a 21-7 win.

“I’m not sure he can catch a pass let alone a punt snap,” joked Mountain Valley coach Jim Aylward about Lever. “So when he caught the punt snap, that was one thing. When he did kick it (49 yards) and it rolled all the way down there, I think at that point momentum went back into our favor. Then we just had to finish it off. I really felt the whole atmosphere in the stadium changed at that moment.”

It was the first state title for the Falcons, which had lost in 1990, 1994 and 1996.

“It’s unbelievable,” said senior Patrick Knapp. “Not only for the team, but its for the coaches and the community. It’s the first time Rumford has had a state championship and for Coach Aylward to get his first state championship, it’s just unbelievable.”

The Falcons staked a 13-0 lead thanks to two Winslow turnovers in the first quarter. From there, the Falcons relied on its defense to stymy the Black Raiders. Winslow ended the game with five fumbles, three of which were lost, and two interceptions.

“We had more turnovers in this game than we probably had in our last five,” said Winslow coach Mike Siviski. “That first quarter really did us in. We couldn’t really get any momentum. We just couldn’t overcome that.”

The Falcon defense kept the Black Raiders in check for much of the game. Winslow finished with just 130 yards on the ground, led by Justin Lindie with 98 yards on 19 carries. The Black Raiders totalled just 165 yards.

“They’ve been averaging 35 points a game down the stretch against Eastern Maine playoff teams,” said Aylward. :”We pretty much kept them in the ballpark all day. We were hoping to make them drive the field on us.”

The Falcons physical play up front overpowered Winslow and often had defenders in the backfield. Winslow had to rely on counters and plays to the flats to get anything going. Winslow’s passing game was limited to just six completions on 11 tries. Top receiver, Eric Lopez, was held to just three catches for 35 yards.

“They’re front is very, very good,” said Siviski, who was missing lineman Andy Poulin with an injury suffered in the Eastern B final. “They were able to control the ball. We weren’t able to run the ball. We hit a few counters and had a couple of quick hitters, but up the middle was a no-no for Winslow.”

The Black Raiders only scoring drive came with 10:16 left in the game. Jared Maroon finished off a three-play attack that carried 62 yards. Maroon burst up the middle and zig-zagged through the secondary for 24 yards to get Winslow within 13-7.

Mountain Valley could muster just seven yards on its next possession and had to punt the ball right back to a Winslow team sensing a comeback. Making matters worse, Fergola had been hurt on the final run play and limped off, bringing in Lever for the punt.

“You just put faith in the guys blocking for you,” said Lever. “I had all my friends up front, and they were going to block as hard as they could and for as long as they could so I could get the punt off.”

Lever had plenty of time and more than got the ball away. Pinning Winslow back on the 7, the Falcons could sense gold.

“The gold ball, it was ours to win and we all wanted it,” said Fergola. “We just went out and tried hard to win it.”

Winslow managed to get out past the 20, but hopes for a lengthy drive stalled there. Fergola returned and hauled down Lindie on third-and-eight. After a delay of game penalty, the Black Raiders had to punt.

“They pretty much gave us a punch in the face, and we had to answer,” said Lever. “What better way then to answer with that.”

The Falcons got the ball back with 5:55 left in the game, knowing a first down or two might seal it.

“We knew if we got the first down that would have the game won,” said Fergola. “We knew (Aaron) Arsenault was capable of punching it in for us.”

Arsenault added to the lead with a 12-yard burst up the middle, breaking tackles along the way. He finished the game with 141 yards on 26 carries.

“He’s 150 pounds but 145 pound of that is heart,” said Aylward. “He didn’t go down on the first hit all day.”

Mountain Valley set the physical one for the day on the opening kickoff. Chris Taylor smacked Maroon, forcing a fumble that was recovered by Devin Roberts. The Falcons turned that into a 7-0 lead when Arsenault raced through a hole up front from two yards out with 8:47 left.

On Winslow’s second possession, a Lever hit forced another fumble. Knapp scooped up the freebie and raced 45-yards for the 13-0 lead with 3:47 left in the quarter.

“I saw the ball come out of the guys hand,” said Knapp. “It hit the ground and came up into my hands. I didn’t even know if I could run fast enough. I just went as fast as I could.”

SUMMARY

Mountain Valley 21-7

Class B state championship

Winslow 0 0 07 – 7

Mountain Valley 13 0 0 8 – 21

First quarter

MV: Arsenault 2 run (Madigan kick)

MV: Knapp 45 yard fumble return (kick wide)

Fourth quarter

W: Maroon 24 run (Poulin kick)

MV: Arsenualt 12 run (Lever from Z. Fergola)

stats W MV

first down 9 13

rushes 28-130 45-183

passing yards 35 46

completions 6-11-2 3-9-2

Total 165 229

Punts 4-32.0 4-41.0

fumbles 5-3 0-0

penalties 2-10 2-10