WELLS — Spruce  Mountain knew the storm was coming.

The third-seeded Phoenix were already bracing themselves for No. 2 Wells’ sharp rebuttal to a 22-0 first-half deficit even before the Warriors cut into the lead with a touchdown before the intermission.

So the defense, which held Wells to 48 total yards in the first half, started the second half with a three-and-out. Then the offense, which put up 211 yards in the first half, marched 70 yards to what proved to be a critical score.

Spruce Mountain built that 29-6 lead, then held on for a 29-20 victory in the Western C semifinals at Warrior Memorial Field on Friday night. The Phoenix (8-2) will face undefeated and top-seeded Leavitt next weekend in the first regional final appearance of the consolidated Jay-Livermore Falls school’s three-year history

“From where we started to where we are now, it’s a testament to the players, their families, the community coming together, everybody pushing the same way,” said Walter Polky, in his second season as head coach.

Spruce’s defense, which dominated the first half and tallied five sacks of Wells QB Nate Booth and three turnovers overall, was tested in the second half after the Warriors went to a power-running game behind 215-pound fullback Mike Curtis.

Curtis plowed up the middle for a 14-yard touchdown that pulled the Warriors within nine with 9:49 to play.

Wells forced a 25-yard punt to take over at its own 42 with 8:16 left, converted on fourth-and-inches to cross midfield, then picked up another first down to the Spruce 36.

After a 3-yard loss on first down, a swarm of Phoenix led by Austin Couture sacked Booth at midfield. An incompletion on third down set up 4th-and-24, and Couture again led the charge to drop a scrambling Booth for a 22-yard loss.

Spruce took over on offense and burned nearly three minutes off the clock before turning it back over on downs to the Warriors on a final desperate drive that went nowhere.

“In the second half, we were relying on someone else to make the play,” Spruce quarterback/safety Peter Theriault said. “Finally we just started doing our own assignments and it worked out.”

“I give them credit,” Wells coach Tim Roche said. “We keep on looking for reasons why we lost. Well, they played pretty well. They played well all year.”

Wells (6-3) beat the Phoenix, 20-15, in Week 2 to ultimately earn the second seed and the bye week. But Spruce was without two key contributors who came up big Friday night.

The first was senior fullback Alwayne Uter (20 carries, 102 yards), who the Phoenix fed early and often to set a physical tone on their 10-play opening drive that Matt Vigue (19 carries, 86 yards, 2 TD) capped with a 4-yard touchdown run.

Back-to-back offsides penalties by the Warriors on the PAT convinced Polky to go for two, which Vigue converted to make it 8-0.

Another player who missed the last game, sophomore linebacker James Ouellette, spent much of the first half in the Wells backfield and teamed with Tristan Castonguay and Mike Brown (fumble recovery) to limit the Warriors to one first down in the first quarter.

“We were filling our gaps well,” Ouellette said. “Everyone did their job. Defense works when everyone does their job. If my teammates take the blockers,  I get to the quarterback.”

Vigue made it 16-0 by breaking one tackle, then kicking out of another on a 26-yard touchdown run before adding the two-point conversion.

Ouellette’s three consecutive tackles in the backfield, including a sack, forced a punt that set up Spruce’s next score, a 21-yard pass from Theriault to Deonte Ring, with 4:16 left in the half.

Wells forced Theriault to punt out of his own end zone and gave its offense great field positions, Spruce’s 25, with 33 seconds left in the half. On 3rd-and-3, Booth connected with Ryan Marsh, who made a leaping catch between two defenders in the end zone, to get the Warriors on the board with 12 seconds remaining.

That gave Polky plenty of fodder for halftime.

“(Wells) is a championship team. They won a (Class B) championship in 2011. Coach Roche is a championship coach. If you think those guys are going to roll over, it’s  not going to happen,”  Polky said. “We knew they were going to come out hard.”

The teams combined for 21 penalties, and infractions by the Warriors staggered their opening drive of the second half and bolstered the Phoenix first possession. Two personal fouls helped Spruce march to the 10, where Theriault (5-for-10, 78 yards, 2 TDs, 1  INT) rolled right and found Ring for the second time in the end zone and a 29-6 lead.

“I  was rolling out because they were packing the middle a lot,” Theriault said. “I was thinking about running it, but I saw Deonte’s man bit on the run, so he was wide open. I just threw it up there and Deonte made a heck of a catch.”

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