AUBURN — Edward Little coach Dave Sterling is the first one to tell you that this is same Bangor team his Red Eddies beat during the regular season.

But on this chilly Friday night, there was one big difference — the No. 5 Rams’ game was on. And it went on and on as they rolled over the No. 4 Red Eddies in a 54-21 victory in a Class A North quarterfinal football game.

Bangor’s hard-nosed, grind-it-out running game confounded the Red Eddies even though Edward Little scored on the third play of game when EL quarterback Matt Verrill hooked up with C.J. Jipson with a 44-yard touchdown pass.

Bangor didn’t even balk, and answered with two touchdowns within three minutes of each other, and that set the pace for the Rams the entire game.

“These kids had the attitude where they were going to get better every day, grow from adversity, and that’s the way we looked at it,” Bangor coach Alan Mosca said. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of this group.

“The senior leadership has been phenomenal and the rout that these kids chose was the rout that we are going to get better through adversity, get better through our losses. We are going to use the next day to get better, and that’s what they have done.”

Bangor tied it up when it got to the 8-yard line where senior running back Ben Crichton carried it in from there for his first of two touchdowns, and Gary Farnham booted the extra point to tie the game.

Three minutes later Edward Little fumbled on its 39 and Bangor recovered. The next play, Bangor quarterback Jeff Lewis launched a 61-yard TD pass to Ethan Dorman and Farnham kicked the extra point, giving the Rams a 14-7 lead.

Bangor’s procession to he EL end zone was just beginning.

“They are a hard-nosed, running football team, the same team we saw before,” Sterling said. “ We had injuries even this game that caught up with us. They are a very good football team and it’s the cruel part of football that you either have to step up or you are going to have a tough time at night.”

Bangor took it to another level Friday night, especially which it came to capitalizing on EL turnovers.

With 2:32 left in the first quarter, Dorman picked off a Verrill pass and ran it back to EL’s 20. Crichton took it from there and raced in with a TD and Farhham followed with the extra point to give the Rams a 21-7 lead.

In the second quarter, neither team let up even though the Rams obviously had the upper hand.

The Red Eddies tried to fake a punt to pick up another first down, but that didn’t happen and the Rams got the ball back 35. Bangor slugged out to the 20-yard line where Dane Johnson scored his first of four touchdowns. Farnham made good on another extra point and the Rams were feeling real good with a 28-7 lead.

The Red Eddies didn’t call it quits, either. They capitalized on a couple of pass interference calls and found themselves on Bangor 1 where Verrill spilled in for a touchdown. Benson was good for the extra point.

But the Rams closed out the first half with a touchdown courtesy of Johnson who scored from the 1 again, making it 35-14 going into the second half.

Johnson would own the second half with three more touchdowns, including an 82-yard interception return.

The Red Eddies scored in the third quarter when Verrill found Jipson open for a 21-yard TD reception.

“They fought through adversity,” Sterling said. “You know we came out and scored right from the opening. They came back and threw a punch. “We had to respond and you know our guys never quit. This what I love about this group of young men. They gave this town a whole playoff game to this town, which hasn’t happened in quite a while.”

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