GARDINER – Once the heart palpitations and heartache subside, let’s hope the Oak Hill High School football team appreciates that it helped give a new, natural Eastern Class B rivalry a heart transplant Friday night.
Oak Hill stared down titanic tradition without flinching. Only Nick Jamison’s 90-yard return of an errant and potential game-winning field goal with two seconds remaining allowed Gardiner to escape with a 28-20 victory at Hoch Field.
The Raiders (2-4) led by two touchdowns early in the second half and pushed the ball downfield at will all night long. Wild stuff for a program that would have looked and felt silly on the same field as the Tigers less than a decade ago.
“Who would have thought we’d be staying right with teams like Waterville and Gardiner? Only a couple years ago, they were beating Bangor and Skowhegan,” Oak Hill coach Bruce Nicholas said of the league newcomers. “That’s pretty good for a collection of three little towns that don’t even have a McDonald’s.”
On the arm and legs of junior quarterback Josh Jillson, Oak Hill moved the ball from its own 35 to the Gardiner 2 in less than a minute. Jillson hit three different receivers and drew a pass interference call on the drive. Even when he overthrew Josh Therrien on third down, it stopped the clock and set up a 20-yard chip shot for Eric Daniels.
The snap was good, but Will Phelps squirted through the line and rushed the kick. In golf parlance, Daniels topped it, hitting a squibber that one-hopped into Jamison’s arms and went the other way for six points.
“Usually when a guy steps on the field to attempt a game-winning field goal, he hasn’t played 47 minutes and made a hundred tackles,” Nicholas said. “I think his legs were heavy at that point. It took so long to develop. You certainly can’t fault Eric.”
Not after Daniels scored all three Oak Hill touchdowns and made 21 tackles, to be exact.
For its part, Gardiner (3-3) rallied to a much-needed victory in its first Pine Tree Conference Class B campaign by doing some things contrary to its conservative nature.
Gardiner coach Matt Brown let junior linebacker and captain Devon Brown call the defensive plays in the huddle in the second half. It seemed to at least slow Oak Hill, which amassed 198 of its 346 yards before the break.
The Tigers also went with a hurry-up offense and leaned more heavily on the right arm of sophomore QB Kyle Stilphen, who was 4-for-4 in the second half, including a 26-yard touchdown pass to Mike Lavallee that put Gardiner on top 21-20 with 7:26 remaining.
Gardiner also made a goal line stand at the end of the first half, with Stilphen making the final stop on Zac Eaton inside the 5.
“We’re fortunate to have an athlete like Kyle Stilphen on our side,” coach Brown said. “That’s just good geography.”
Daniels ran for scores of 1, 6 and 9 yards, the last rocketing the Raiders to a 20-7 lead with 6:14 remaining in the third. Stilphen scored on a 6-yard sneak to cap Gardiner’s ensuing drive.
Devon Brown gave Gardiner the early advantage with an 8-yard run after Kerry Ramsay returned the opening kickoff 80 yards.
The consistency of Ramsay (20 carries, 114 yards) and Eaton (22 carries, 107 yards) made their respective offenses click. Wally Rines also ran for 81 yards to spark the Raiders, who ran roughshod behind Gabe Fontaine, Robie Leavitt and a rugged front five.
“They didn’t surprise us, really,” Devon Brown said. “We watched a lot of film, but that was the most physical we’ve seen them play.”
Comments are no longer available on this story