DIXFIELD – Dirigo High School overcame the odds in the fourth quarter Saturday and put itself back in the Western Class C football playoff chase.

Senior Derek Daley scored the tying touchdown and quarterback Nic Crutchfield rushed for the conversion, helping Dirigo rally to a 14-12 Campbell Conference triumph over Livermore Falls.

Dirigo (2-3) used a balanced attack with Kevin O’Leary (61 yards on 13 carries), Crutchfield (15 for 60) and Daley (10 for 38) to keep the Andies at bay. That strategy helped set up a 30-yard catch-and-run by Josh Palmer on the winning drive.

“It was wide-open, and Josh caught it,” said Dirigo coach Doug Gilbert. “It came after we had shot ourselves in the foot with penalties, including the offsides on first-and-goal.”

Kyle Stebbins (133 yards on 22 rushes) and Chandler White (47 yards, one rushing TD, one receiving TD) led the Wing-T attack for the Andies.

Livermore Falls (3-2) took a 12-6 lead on White’s 20-yard TD but was unable to convert the attempted point after.

Dirigo held the Andies to 185 yards by keying on their pulling guards.

“We botched both our PATs,” Livermore Falls coach Brad Bishop said. “Then there was a blown coverage on that long pass play. But I have to credit Dirigo. because they made the plays when they had to. In the second half, we did a better job blocking and got our offense going.”

After White’s second score, Daley returned the kickoff to the Andies’ 45. On the first play, Palmer reached the 15.

O’Leary logged three more productive runs, and Daley punched in a 1-yard TD on third-and-goal. Crutchfield ran around the right side for the conversion with 1:54 left in the game.

“This was a huge win for us,” Daley said. “Neither Livermore Falls nor us could really afford to lose today. On the score, that was Coach Gilbert’s call. He knew they would be looking for Nic to run a sneak and stack the middle, so we bounced it outside.”

Livermore Falls went up early when QB Kevin Gats passed to White in the right flat for a 13-yard score.

Dirigo stiffened defensively to stop the Andies in the red zone on one occasion and also survived a fumble in the first quarter.

Crutchfield (4-of-6, 53 yards) scored on a 4-yard run with 2:47 left in the first half. The drive covered 85 yards in 12 plays and featured an 11-yard catch by Josh Jean and first-down runs by Crutchfield and Daley.

“A key today was I didn’t throw any bad passes,” Crutchfield said. “We had excellent blocking by our line, Dave Guilford, Arik Fenstermacher, Jon Berry, Cam Chartier and Arthur Manzer. It was a great game, and the home crowd had us pumped up.”