BELFAST – The Leavitt Hornets saw a golden opportunity to get a leg up in the Pine Tree Conference playoff race, and they weren’t about to waste any time seizing it.
Leavitt jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead, then made the adjustments necessary to keep Belfast at a safe distance and take home a 27-18 win Saturday night at the newly christened Dennis “Bear” Bryant Memorial Field.
Tyler Angell rushed for 134 yards and two TDs and threw for 71 more as the Hornets (4-1) picked up a critical game on the Lions (3-2) with home games against new conference arrivals Waterville and Gardiner awaiting them in the next two weeks.
“Right now in the Crabtree (standings), they’re two and we’re three, so we knew just to make the playoffs, this was an important game,” Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway said. “And beyond that, if we wanted any type of chance at a home field, we said this was a must win.”
Leavitt looked sharp from the opening kickoff, converting five of five third downs on their first two possessions. They moved the chains twice on third down on a nine-play, 67-yard opening drive capped by Angell’s eight-yard TD run, then, on their second drive, converted on third-and-12 and third-and-10 on Angell passes to Ben Boulay (for 20 yards) and Tyler Millett (21 yards) to set up Corey Witham’s six yard TD run for the 14-0 bulge.
“We got good protection and our spacing of our routes was good and Angell just picked the right receiver and dropped it in there,” said Hathaway, whose team was 7-of-11 on third down for the night.
“Leavitt’s a good football team, and I think they did what they wanted to offensively, especially early, and we didn’t make the adjustments that we’d hoped to make,” said Belfast coach Butch Richards.
In the second quarter, Belfast QB Adam Whalen started having success completing screens and dump-offs to Travis Lee, who caught all seven of Whalen’s completions for 112 yards. Back-to-back completions set up a Sean Leeman one-yard run that finally got the Lions on the board with 28 seconds left in the half.
Rich Lake deflected a Lee punt following Belfast’s first possession of the second half to put the Hornets in good shape for their initial series. They drove 58 yards in nine plays and Angell scored on a keeper from four yards out to make it 21-6.
The Lions kept it interesting by finally getting Leeman (21 carries, 94 yards, two TDs), the PTC’s top rusher, untracked midway through the third quarter. His four-yard TD run made it 21-12. Belfast had two drives start in Leavitt territory in the fourth quarter, but the Hornets held firm and then added an insurance touchdown by Brewer with 1:19 left to put it away.
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