He’s seen the highs and lows of high school football, both as a participant and as a spectator for his extended family’s playing and coaching exploits.

No surprise, then, that Leavitt senior quarterback and safety Jordan Hersom expressed grown-up appreciation in the immediate aftermath of the Hornets’ 22-21, double-overtime ouster of Mt. Blue in Friday’s Eastern Class B championship.

“I feel fortunate and I feel bad for the Mt. Blue kids,” Hersom said. “I’ve got to give a lot of credit to them. It’s a heck of a game and a game you want no one to lose.”

Hersom was one of the primary reasons Leavitt didn’t lose.

He’s part of a pass defense that forced a series of incomplete throws and a punt with the Hornets trailing 14-7 and approaching the end zone once again.

Mt. Blue had scored a go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter, then gained possession at the Leavitt 19 when the Hornets failed to cover the ensuing kickoff.

On Leavitt’s next drive, Hersom twice converted third-and-long with passes of 30 yards to Brian Bedard and 16 yards to Jake Ouellette.

Ouellette ran for the tying touchdown on the opening play of the fourth quarter.

About a dozen twists and turns later, Hersom hit Bedard for a 10-yard score and steered a shovel pass into Ouellette’s hands for the winning two-point conversion in the second extra session.

Hersom was 6-for-7 for 108 yards in the second half and overtime.

“Both teams played their hearts out.” Hersom said. “It really could have gone the other way. We could have been on the other side of that.”

Junior achievement

The dream is over for Mt. Blue for Mountain Valley, but the sting is only temporary. Nobody should be surprised when the Falcons and Cougars challenge for their respective conference crowns in 2012.

That isn’t exactly a stark revelation about Mountain Valley. The Falcons have appeared in 17 of the past 23 Western B title games and have won the state title in every even-numbered year since 2004.

Fullback Matt Hosie rushed for more than 1,000 yards as a junior despite battling injuries throughout the second half of the season.

Sophomore Brett Beauchesne racked up nearly nine yards per carry in relief duty before breaking his collarbone in the final junior varsity game of the season.

“We think he’s going to be a really good one,” Mountain Valley coach Jim Aylward said.

Colin Merrill, Santos Rodriguez, Jake Theriault, Tyler Smith and Ryan Nicols all played key roles on the Falcons’ defense as juniors. Ryan Stickney will be back to anchor the offensive line.

Mt. Blue will have high hopes in the Pine Tree Conference with Jordan Whitney in his third year as starting quarterback.

Hard-hitting linebacker Bradley Jackson and safety Chad Luker will return to anchor the defense, with Luker and Calan Lucas likely taking on an increased role at running back.

Tight end Zak Kendall (275 pounds) and tackle Eli Luker (270) give the Cougars girth up front.

Mt. Blue’s defensive line played one of its best games of the season against Leavitt despite missing all-conference tackle Dustin Zamboni, whose season was ended by a torn ACL suffered in the semifinals.

“We were missing our best defensive lineman,” Parlin said. “We had three guys who rotated in there, one who is a sophomore who had an exceptional game, Colin Richards. And our two ends are good players, both juniors that will be back next year, Chad Luker and Zak Kendall.”

Hornets get wild

Leavitt is known for starting its potent offense from a wide array of formations. One formation the Hornets have not used, however, is the “Wildcat.”

Yet coach Mike Hathaway reached deep into the playbook in a big situation Friday night. Trailing 14-7 with the ball at the Mt. Blue 2 at the start of the fourth quarter, Hathaway had quarterback Jordan Hersom line up in the left slot and put tailback Jake Ouellette behind the center in the shotgun.

With Hersom in motion to the right, Ouellette faked the handoff to him, sidestepped a defender in the backfield, ran over another at the 2 and dove into the end zone for the tying touchdown.

“That was the first time I think we’ve run it in an actual game. What a game to run it in, right?” Ouellette said.

Hathaway said he’d planned on using the Wildcat earlier in the year but an equipment malfunction forced him to put it back in his pocket.

“We actually had it lined up once and Jake got sent out of the game for having his helmet buckle undone and we couldn’t run it,” he said.

“We’ve been working on that all year,” he said. “We just felt like Jordan would probably draw a lot of attention coming in motion in front of Jake. We were trying to get some plays to spring Jake loose. They were doing a good job defending him. We just thought that was a good one down in the end zone.”