KITTERY — In a game littered with mistakes by both sides, it was the final error for Traip Academy that sealed a 12-6 Dirigo victory on Friday.

The Class C showdown was sloppy for much of the game, due mostly to both teams playing smashmouth defense. It was Dirigo’s Tyler Frost who ripped the ball from Christian Montembeau to snuff out Traip’s final drive at Dirigo’s 15-yard line with 1:24 remaining.

“This is huge for us,” said Dirigo coach Dave Crutchfield, whose team moved to 5-1. “Traip has been talked up to be the big, hard-hitting team in our division and we came down here to run at them and see what they really had.”

Brett Whittmore’s 14-yard touchdown pass to Spencer Trenoweth with 2:54 remaining broke a 6-6 tie and put Dirigo in front to stay.

Penalties and turnovers were a big story, as Traip (90) and Dirigo (60) combined for 150 yards in penalties. Traip (5-1) also had three turnovers as the Cougars spoiled homecoming at Memorial Field.

“I told them we earned this loss,” said Traip coach Ron Ross. “We needed this though. We needed someone to punch us in the mouth and show us that we play in a league that is tougher than any other in the state. I’m glad it happened here, in front of their friends and family. We needed it, I’m glad it happened. Now we know what we have to do next week and beyond.”

Cory Aldecoa led Traip with 184 rushing yards, while Whittmore had two touchdown passes for Dirigo. Trenoweth had 83 yards rushing.

Dirigo took the second-half kickoff and drove down the field for the game’s first touchdown, a 4-yard pass from Whittmore to Thomas Barnett that made it 6-0. The key play was a halfback option pass from Trenoweth to Nick Young for 33 yards on third-and-14 that pushed the ball to the Traip 11.

Traip answered on the first play of the fourth quarter when Cory Aldecoa broke off an 86-yard touchdown run. The Rangers’ fiery leader energized the big home crowd after the play, although the extra point was blocked and the game remained tied 6-6.

Penalties proved costly for Traip down the stretch, especially when a personal foul moved the ball to the Rangers’ 15-yard line on Dirigo’s winning drive. The Cougars scored three plays later when Whittmore hit Trenoweth for the 14-yard touchdown pass.

A big kickoff return and a personal foul against Dirigo gave Traip the ball at the Dirigo 22-yard line on the ensuing possession. Aldecoa picked up a first down but he was hurt on the play with 2:01 remaining. After a false-start penalty, with Aldecoa on the bench with an injury, Frost ripped the ball away from Montembeau to seal the Dirigo victory.

“(Frost) just took it away,” Ross said. “That was a great football play.”

Between the penalties and turnovers, Ross said the mistakes cost his team the game.

“Too many mistakes,” Ross said. “We’ve been telling them for weeks now that the penalties are going to cost them. You can’t commit that many penalties and expect to beat good teams. We came out flat, we played flat, and they came out ready to play. They played smashmouth football, and we really didn’t do anything right tonight.”

Ross said he hopes his players will learn from the loss and use it to motivate them going forward.

“Losing sucks, but this was a good loss for us,” he said. “We have to play without mistakes, and we didn’t do that.”

“They are a tough team, a good team, and if they weren’t banged up I wonder what they would have done,” Crutchfield said. “But we came in and played very hard. This is a good win for us.”