Neither one produced points, which in the low-temperature, high-stress world of November high school football falls into the category of recipes for disaster.

Reid Chase made the tackle on the opening goal-line stand and recovered a third-down fumble in the latter sequence to seal a 14-13 Wells victory at Griffin Field.

“We had a big stop right at the start. We had a couple of times they got in close, and we stuffed them,” Wells coach Tim Roche said. “When you’re this late in the season, you’re going to have plays like that. We’re lucky we came out ahead. I’m pretty happy right now, to be honest with you.”

No. 3 Wells (8-2) avenged a three-touchdown loss here in September and will travel to No. 1 Leavitt (9-1) next Friday night for the regional final.

Despite being stymied early, Spruce Mountain (8-2) went up 13-0 on two Peter Theriault touchdown throws, 83 yards to Andrew Darling and 18 yards to Matt Vigue.

Held in check to that point, Wells halfback Chris Carney erupted for a 59-yard touchdown in the final minute of the half to revive the Warriors.

“The big momentum shift was the touchdown before the half. It’s just coming down to fundamentals and doing things the right way,” Spruce Mountain coach Walter Polky said. “He’s a great running back. He’s going to be a 2,000-yard runner this year. He’s going to have 30-some touchdowns.”

Spruce Mountain was undone by four fumbles, three of which fell into the hands of Wells’ Matt Healey, Evan Whitten and Marsh.

Carney was corralled to 23 yards on 13 carries before his burst of speed down the Wells sideline for TD No. 29 of his sensational senior campaign.

It opened the floodgates. He finished with 29 rushes for 188 yards. Fullback Mike Curtis churned out 73 more on 15 attempts.

“I can’t say enough for the blocking on that one. It was just a wide-open thing. The whole team was right there blocking. It was awesome,” Carney said. “We thought we could. We were going over it all week. The linemen stepped up big. Jake Lareau, he’s my go-to guy. He’s always opening up big holes for me, and he made a big hole right there.”

Carney also took it 25 and 31 yards on consecutive carries to fuel Wells’ winning drive.

Vigue ran down Carney at the 1 on the second jaunt. Spruce stopped consecutive dives by Curtis and Carney before Nate Booth scored on a quarterback sneak with 7:35 remaining in the third quarter.

Ryan Marsh’s second extra-point kick of the night provided the winning margin.

“We didn’t move the ball great to start. We knew if we kept running it with Chris, he was going to break one eventually,” Roche said. “All week long we were saying we don’t know if we’re going to be able to run sweep, because they’re going to stunt the (linebackers), and jeez, I don’t know. And I’m like, ‘Why am I calling plays like this?’ This is what we do, and if we can’t do what we do, then we don’t deserve to win.”

Spruce had ample opportunities to answer, including an immediate one.

Theriault (8 of 19, 189 yards) found Deonte Ring (five catches, 83 yards) over the middle on second-and-10 from the 50. Ring sidestepped two would-be tacklers and valiantly dragged three others an additional 10 yards before the ball squirted loose. The Phoenix recovered at the Warriors’ 20.

Dillon Webster forged ahead for two yards before three consecutive throws to the end zone fell incomplete.

“Defense won the game,” Carney said. “We stepped up big. (Defensive coordinator Carmen) Perri got us ready. We just came to play, motivated.”

Spruce made it into Wells territory again at the end of the quarter on a 20-yard ramble by Webster, but a lost fumble negated the opportunity.

After Wells used a hook-and-ladder from Booth to Jordan Cluff to Carney, gaining 38 yards on third-and-14 to the Spruce 21, the Phoenix defense held with 9:36 remaining to set up the potential game-winning drive.

“I thought our defense played great tonight. We just made too many mistakes,” Polky said. “They capitalized on mistakes. We just couldn’t.”

Theriault’s 21-yard strike to Ring and a pass interference call against Wells put the Phoenix in position at the 23. Darling picked up a dozen more on an option play.

Wells shut down consecutive runs by Theriault and Vigue, then jarred the ball loose as Theriault grappled for more yardage on his next bid.

“Offensively there were some big first downs, but defensively we came through,” Roche said. “We settled it down. I’m just so proud of them. They’re resilient kids. They’ve lost to them a couple times in a row. Then to finally come out and get it done in a game like this is so cool.”

The Phoenix had a final chance after the Warriors were whistled for interfering with Vigue’s fair catch attempt on a Marsh punt.

Spruce started at its own 49, but two runs went nowhere. The officials ruled Vigue out of bounds on his third-down grab, and Booth knocked the ball out of Vigue’s hands to render a fourth-down heave incomplete.

It was a far cry from the celebratory atmosphere early, when the Phoenix dominated the first quarter and finally had something to show for it after Darling’s beautiful fingertip grab-and-go.

Wells stopped Vigue (16 carries, 97 yards) by a nose on the two-point try.

Led by James Ouellette, Chad Richards and Anthony York, the Spruce defense turned in consecutive three-and-outs prior to the second touchdown drive. Completions from Theriault to Ring converted a pair of third downs prior to Vigue’s diving grab in the back of the end zone.

After Wells jumped offside and persuaded Spruce to go for two, the Phoenix were called for a false start. Theriault retrieved the tee and booted the extra point that made it 13-0.

Spruce Mountain was playing only its fifth playoff game since its consolidation in 2011. The Phoenix beat Wells in last year’s semifinals, 29-20, before falling to Leavitt.

“Tim does a great job with those kids. That team is a traditional powerhouse. For us to be, my third year here, competing with these guys … We know where our program is. We know where the bar’s been set,” Polky said. “Our seniors were the big difference-makers. They took it upon themselves to bring this program up, and that’s what they did.”

koakes@sunjournal.com

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