FAIRFIELD – It’s been almost two years, dozens of ice packs and a ridiculous number of training room tapings since Jim Bower has been able to run like, well, like Jim Bower.
Bower’s junior season never got off the ground thanks to a badly sprained right ankle, which probably affected his feet and knees and eventually took a toll on his head, too.
“Everything was messed up,” Bower said.
Pain-free and punishing as ever, the 5-foot-10, 195-pound workhorse is back messing up defenses. His 40-yard ramble set up Oxford Hills’ first touchdown Friday night, and a vintage, 80-yard explosion down the home sideline with 3:48 remaining in regulation vaulted the visiting Vikings to a rough-and-tumble, 14-9 win over Lawrence.
It was the first varsity head coaching victory for Bob Austin, and it saved Oxford Hills (1-2) from being eliminated early in a Pine Tree Conference playoff race that will have a happy ending for only four teams next month.
“Nothing like a nice, easy one for your first win, huh?” was Austin’s rhetorical reaction, delivered with the smile of a man who knew his team survived a mighty scare.
Bower’s late, evasive maneuvers might have applied the exclamation point, but defense carried the Vikings. Oxford Hills limited Lawrence to fewer yards of total offense (194) than Bower (199 on 20 carries) amassed on the ground by himself.
Senior captain Jake Cash (21 tackles) and Chris Jennings (17 stops) spent the night leveling Lawrence’s guy with the ball, usually Dylan Costigan, who finished with 27 carries for 126 yards.
Justin Desrosier, Alex Waite, Logan Cromwell and Jon Cote also were repeat hitters, so to speak, and spring baseball star Jennings plucked the defensive gem by intercepting Mike Hersom inside the Oxford Hills 20-yard line to seal the victory with a minute left.
“Jimmy’s run really turned this game around, but our defense stepped it up as a group,” said Cash, a 200-pound defensive end. “We fought through a lot of adversity as a team through the first two games, and again tonight, but we just kept attacking.”
While Bower’s first long run of the night set up his 5-yard burst up the middle with 8:50 to go in the second quarter, it was sandwiched between two special teams blunders that put the Vikings in a 9-7 halftime hole.
Devin Raven blocked a punt after Oxford Hills’ opening series stalled just shy of midfield. Lawrence took over at the 29, hammered out one first down and put Andrew Ashland in position for a 31-yard field goal.
Later, after nearly tripling the Bulldogs’ offensive output for the half, Oxford Hills saw Costigan break free for a 65-yard punt return TD with 52 seconds until the break. Cash helped partially block the extra point to keep Lawrence’s lead at two.
“Our kids responded after the tough loss (at Edward Little) last week,” said Lawrence coach John Hersom, whose starting quarterback and fullback watched Friday’s game while leaning on crutches. “We had a pretty good game plan for the kids we had. They beat us with a big play.”
Bower initially questioned the relatively conservative call from the Vikings’ own 20.
“I didn’t like it at first,” he admitted, noting that Lawrence stopped the same play for losses earlier in the game. “But then somebody, I’m not even sure who it was, gave me a great block about 10 yards downfield and I was gone.”
Austin recalled that Bower missed out on a sure touchdown in last week’s loss to Skowhegan when he tripped over those fully recovered feet.
“When he got back to the sideline, I thanked him for not falling down,” Austin said with another smile. “It’s good to see Jim Bower being the Jim Bower we always knew.”
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