LEWISTON — Nearly three quarters of the way through Saturday’s mud bowl with Middlebury, Bates had the lead, the ball and the kind of momentum that could have propelled it to its first win of 2009.

Then the ball slipped away and immediately took momentum with it. Moments later, the outcome followed suit.

Middlebury scored a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter for a come-from-behind 28-18 win over Bates on a rainy and raw afternoon at Garcelon Field.

Patrick George’s 7-yard run up the middle gave the Bobcats (0-5) an 18-14 lead with 39 seconds left in the third quarter. Three plays into The Panthers’ next drive, junior linebacker Myles Walker (13 tackles) forced scrambling Middlebury QB Donald McKillop to fumble and sophomore defensive lineman Pat Quinn fell on the ball at the Bates 46. 

Instead of capitalizing on the great field position to add to its lead, Bates immediately gave the ball back when freshman QB Trevor Smith, playing for injured starter Ryan Katon, bobbled the snap. Paul Carroll recovered for Middlebury as the third quarter expired.

“We had an opportunity to maybe put them away and then turned the ball back over,” Bates coach Mark Harriman said. “We had some chances to make some plays in critical situations in the second half and we didn’t.”

The Panthers started the fourth quarter at the Bates 46 and needed six plays to take the lead for good when James Millard caught a pass near the left sideline and slipped through a couple of tackles on the way to a 26-yard TD.

“It was good after we give up a ball like that for the defense to step up for us and get it right back,” McKillop said. “We were driving the ball prior to that and we made some good plays, so getting right back out there just kept our rhythm. It was like we had an extended play clock.”

After the offense went three-and-out, the Bobcat defense made an important stop on 4th-and-2 at its own 30. The offense took over again with 8:52 remaining and, on 4th-and-1 at its own 39, tried a fake punt with a direct snap to the up-man, who was stuffed for no gain. Middlebury drove the 39 yards to it final score in five plays, capped by a 4-yard run by Rostad with 5:45 left.

Thanks to the sloppy conditions and a fired-up defense, the Bobcats jumped out to an early two-touchdown lead with two short drives. After Bates’ second drive of the game stalled at the Panther 8, the defense forced a three-and-out to set up the offense at the Panther 35. A 20-yard completion from Katon to Matt Gregg wiped out a 3rd-and-14 at the end of the first quarter. Four straight runs by George (career-high 61 yards on 20 carries), who was subbing for an injured Judd Smith, got the Bobcats to the three. Katon (4 of 6, 75 yards) took it in from there with a bootleg left to make it 6-0, but the sophomore took a shot to the head that sidelined him for the rest of the day.

Brett McAllister’s interception on the Panthers’ next series set the Bobcats up in prime real estate again — Middlebury’s 28. Smith took over as the primary QB, but the Bobcats often went to a version of the “Wildcat” formation with senior wide receiver Tom Beaton taking the snaps. After Smith converted a sneak on 4th-and-inches to keep the drive alive, Beaton hooked up with George along the right sideline for an 18-yard TD pass. Beaton’s two-point conversion attempt failed, keeping the score at 12-0 with 9:25 remaining in the half.

“That’s one thing we’ve been working on is when we get in the red zone, putting points on the board,” Beaton said. “Other than that, I thought both sides of the ball did pretty well. We just let this one slip away.”

Dropped passes victimized the Panthers on their next two drives, but McKillop (23-43, 252 yards, three touchdowns) and his receivers finally got in sync just before the half on the game’s longest scoring drive. The junior QB completed eight of 11 pass attempts, with one incompletion being a spike to stop the clock, to drive Middlebury 80 yards in 2:03. On 3rd-and-10 from the 14, he threaded the needle to Rostad in the middle of the end zone to pull the Panthers within 12-7 just before intermission.

“Rostad came out of the backfield and saw the hole and I saw the hole, and we both have a lot of confidence on each other,” McKillop said. “We both knew where that ball had to be and he ran the right route to get to where it was going to be.” 

“They were doing a great job in the first half defensively,” Middlebury coach Bob Ritter said. “We put something together so at least we felt good going into halftime. The conditions deteriorated pretty quickly and it was tough to throw the ball downfield, although Bates didn’t seem to have as much trouble as we did.”

McKillop gave Middlebury its first lead early in the second half with a 24-yard pass that Quinn tipped at the line of scrimmage but still ended up in the hands of Rostad.

“(Playing in the poor conditions) was not quite the circumstances you want, especially as a quarterback, but I think we bared down and focused,” McKillop said. “We threw the ball well and caught the ball pretty well today. It’s going to limit the defense’s cuts with all of the slosh and mud. Everything’s probably a little bit slower, but it’s still the same reads and stuff and it just comes down to execution.” 

“In my time in the league, (McKillop) is arguably the most explosive player since I’ve been here,” said Harriman, who is in his 12th season. “He makes a lot of things happen with his feet and he’s always got his eyes downfield.”