POLAND — A small adjustment by Nelson Pepin paid huge dividends for the Dirigo Cougars Friday night. The junior tight end improvised his pass route and caught a game-winning touchdown pass from quarterback Ben Holmes with 8.3 seconds remaining to help the Cougars escape with a 20-18 victory over the Poland Knights.

The Knights (1-3) had taken a four-point lead on fullback Tyler Sturtevant’s 3-yard scoring run with 1:35 left in the game. Cougar tailback Bryan Blackman had been kept in check for much of the game and finished with 67 yards rushing on just 13 carries, including just three touches from scrimmage in the second half. Blackman took the ensuing kick off 43 yards to the Poland 40.

Two runs totaling 13 yards by Holmes and a 7-yard gain by Blackman helped move the ball to the Poland 6 with just 14.2 ticks left on the clock. From there, the Cougars (3-1) faced fourth down and needed to get to the Knights’ 3. Wanting to make the right call, Dirigo coach David Crutchfield signaled his final timeout before making a call for a play-action pass to Pepin in the left flat.

“We were supposed to do an out pattern,” said Holmes. “(Pepin) saw an opening in the middle of the field and I threw it to him.”

As Pepin came out of the blocks, he slipped behind the defense and was all alone in the back of the end zone underneath the goal post. Holmes’ soft, wobbly pass settled into the arms of the junior tight end for the winning score.

The Knights would have two opportunities from midfield, but an incomplete pass down the middle by quarterback Tony Whalen was followed up by a game-ending interception by Heath Hersom near the Dirigo 40.

The Knights had the Cougars on their heels all night long. Running the double-wing option to perfection, the Knights received a 200-yard, two TD performance from undersized fullback Tyler Sturtevant. Sturtevant took the third play of the game up the middle for a 58-yard scoring scamper and proved to be a workhorse all game long, lugging the ball an incredible 29 times. The Knights totaled 298 yards on the ground and had three drives of 13 or more plays, including a 13-play, 86-yard drive which was capped off by Sturtevant’s touchdown late in the fourth quarter.

“They run the option really well” said Crutchfield.”They hide the ball well and half the time we didn’t know where the ball was.”

On one play late in the third quarter, the officials had trouble spotting the ball as well. Sturtevant was hit behind the line of scrimmage one play with three defenders piling on as the whistle blew and the side judge came running in from the sideline and motioning his hand that the runner was down. The only problem was the runner was Whalen who was racing his way 40 yards downfield toward the end zone with the ball. The officials got together and credited Whalen with just an 8-yard gain.

The Cougars also lost a touchdown late in the first half as a fourth down quarterback sneak by Holmes appeared to easily break the plane of the goal line. With the top half of Holmes’ body in the end zone, the officials ruled him down about a short of pay dirt.

Following Sturtevant’s first score, the Cougars tied the score a few minutes later on a 32-yard touchdown run by Blackman who picked up almost half of his rushing yards on the play.

“This is the best game total we’ve played this year,” said Poland coach Ted Tibbetts. “(Blackman’s) one of the best backs we’ve seen. We emphasized tackling all week. Make sure you get to him and don’t let him go.”

“They took our weapon and put him in the closet,” said Crutchfield.

Poland led 12-6 at half on a 1-yard run by Whalen.

With the Knights focusing on Blackman, Holmes became the feature runner in the second half, picking up most of his 98 yards after the break. He picked up consecutive runs of 13, 13, 12 and 48 yards in the second half. His 13-yard keeper midway through the third quarter and subsequent 2-point conversion gave the Cougars a 14-12 lead, setting the stage for the wild ending.

dst.hilaire@sunjournal.com

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