“This senior group has seen it all in the past,” Oak Hill coach Stacen Doucette said. “They kept their composure and made the plays when it got tough.”

Two of those upperclassmen provided the go-ahead heroics when Dalton Therrien threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Connor Nilsson on the opening play of the fourth quarter. No. 1 Oak Hill subsequently stopped two red zone drives by No. 4 Winthrop/Monmouth to preserve a 13-10 victory in the Class D South football semifinals.

Oak Hill (9-0) won its 19th consecutive game and will battle for its third successive regional title against Lisbon (7-2) next Saturday at 12:30 p.m. Winthrop/Monmouth finished its season at 5-4.

“The games we’ve played this year, we’ve been up early,” Therrien said. “Coming back proved to a lot of people, including ourselves which is the biggest part, that if we get down we can still come back. We’re not out of the game.”

Winthrop/Monmouth answered the score with a 16-yard strike from Matt Ingram to Nate Scott on fourth-and-8 to reach the Oak Hill 25.

Two plays later, Matthew Strout found a seam, punched the ball out of Dustin Tripp’s hands and recovered it as he fell to the turf.

“I didn’t get to see very much of it,” Strout said. “I saw the ball and it was like I took the handoff pretty much. I tackled him, and the ball was right there.”

“That was just a nice play,” Winthrop coach Dave St. Hilaire said. “Dustin had both arms around the ball, and the kid made a nice rip.”

It was a costly takeaway for Oak Hill, which lost two-way starting lineman Brendon Tervo to a left knee injury as he got twisted under the pile.

The Ramblers’ defense held, thanks in part to a personal foul against Oak Hill, and another fourth down throw to Scott moved Winthrop/Monmouth to the 19 with a minute to go.

Scott was stuffed for no gain on first down. Therrien and Garrett Gile knocked down Ingram’s next two offerings.

Winthrop/Monmouth elected not to have Tyler Cote try what would have been a 36-yard field goal against the wind for the tie. A second-quarter try in the other direction clanged off the upright from 27 yards.

“The snap and the hold are usually automatic for us, but his range is 35 yards,” St. Hilaire said. “It was too far.”

Therrien nearly picked off an underthrown ball on fourth down, and the Raiders ran out the clock.

“It’s scary. We’re not used to it,” Therrien said. “Getting pressure on the quarterback was a key, and then having our defensive backs and outside linebackers know the situation and recognize what they’ve seen all game from what kind of pass routes they run.”

Ingram completed 9 of 22 for 174 yards, including six catches for 138 by Bennett Brooks.

Winthrop/Monmouth’s defense produced two safeties, the first on a gang-tackle by Antonio Meucci and Zach Wallace in the second quarter, then another when Andrew Pazdziorko forced Therrien to intentionally ground the ball in the end zone.

“We gave them a hell of a game,” St. Hilaire said. “For the most part we did what we needed to do defensively. The kids brought it. The defense has been coming on week after week and playing great in spots. We only gave up more than 14 points in one game this year.”

Oak Hill drove 78 yards in 13 plays to its initial touchdown with 1:46 left in the opening quarter.

Pass interference got the Raiders out of a hole on third-and-13, and Therrien raced 39 yards on the next play. He also connected with Darryn Bailey and Steven Gilbert on throws to extend the drive.

Wallace and Tripp stuffed his attempted quarterback sneak on third down at the 1. Another fourth-down try didn’t appear to gain much more momentum, but after an extended conference, the officials signaled touchdown.

“They flew to the ball,” Doucette said. “We had to work for everything.”

Meucci downed a 55-yard punt by Cote at the 4 to set up the Ramblers’ first safety with 2:02 to go in the half.

After a 51-yard catch-and-run by Brooks to christen the third period, Winthrop/Monmouth had its first apparent go-ahead touchdown waved off due to a false start. Ingram’s pass fell incomplete on fourth-and-goal, but the sequence paved the way for Pazdziorko to make it 6-4.

“We could not flip field position in the second or third quarters,” Doucette said. “We played defense the whole third quarter.”

Therrien (7-for-13, 106 yards passing; 19 carries for 104 yards rushing) and Levi Buteau picked up first downs to set up third-and-3 at the Winthrop/Monmouth 34 as the third quarter concluded.

Nilsson drew in the safety by faking a slant, then took off downfield, where Therrien hit him in stride.

“This is the craziest game I’ve ever been in,” Nilsson said. “It starts with the line and pass protection. They’re three-year starters, the bulk of the line.”

Old Orchard Beach and Lisbon were the only teams to lead Oak Hill all season. Each game was 6-0 before the Raiders poured it on.

“Practicing and practicing game situations all season so that we’re ready for anything,” Strout said of Oak Hill’s preparation. “We practice the other team being ahead in the second half, and we practice two-minute drills and all the things we need to do if we’re behind, and it worked.”

koakes@sunjournal.com

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