SOUTH PARIS – The Oxford Hills Vikings had big plans to celebrate their homecoming, but then the Brunswick Dragons’ defense had to go and spoil everything at the Gouin Sports Complex on Saturday afternoon.

After a scoreless first quarter, the gloves came off as the Vikes (3-2) and Dragons (2-3) knocked each other around for the next 36 minutes before Brunswick came out on top with a 28-18 victory in Class A football.

Brunswick’s defense seemed to have Oxford Hills’ number as the Vikes’ stop-and-go offense eventually came to a stand still.

“We wanted to throw the ball a little be more than we had recently, and the wind was no help either way, going with it or against it,” said Oxford Hills coach Bob Austin. “It certainly wasn’t the only reason why we couldn’t throw the ball.

“We didn’t have enough pass protection. We would hold on to the ball too long when we were trying to throw.”

And the most perfect example of that came in the late in the second quarter when when Brunswick senior Jake Blake sacked Oxford Hills quarterback Justin Frechette in the pocket, jarring the ball loose.

The Dragons recovered the ball on the Vikings’ 30-yard line where Brunswick moved the ball to the 3. Quarterback Robbie Basquez kept the ball and spilled into the end zone and Sam Guerette topped it off with his second of his four successful extra-point kicks, giving the red-hot Dragons a 14-6 lead going into halftime.

“We felt pretty confident that we would be able to stop them defensively,” said Brunswick coach Bob Austin. “There were a few plays we worried about, but for the most part, we did our job all day long on defensive.

“The pressure on them took away their deep stuff, and they had to throw it pretty quick.”

For the day, the Vikings completed nine of 18 passes for 75 yards.

“We told the kids all week they are an explosive offensive team,” said Austin. “They have some very good skilled players. They played very well defensively.

“They had three losses, but they played against the three better teams in the Pine Tree Conference.”

The undeterred Dragons went on to prove that in the second half when they scored with 8 minutes and 39 seconds left in the third quarter. With great field position on the Oxford Hills 26, Brunswick elbowed its way to the nine before Shaun Tanner scored, giving the Dragons a 21-6 lead. Tanner was his team’s pack mule, carrying the ball on 23 occasions for 118 yards.

The Vikings came right back at Brunswick on the next possession with a touchdown. From its 42, Oxford Hills clawed its way to the 29, where Chris Ney broke free and scored as Brunswick held on to a 21-12 lead.

The Dragons wrapped it up in the fourth quarter. Basquez scored his second touchdown with 7:02 left in the game on a 1-yard rush.

But the Vikings got one the board one more time. D.J. Drew scored his second touchdown on a 14-yard pass from Frechette with 4:41 left in the game.