By Randy Whitehouse,Staff Writer

JAY – Boothbay became one of the dominant teams of the last decade in Western Class C by running the ball down its opponents’ throats.

This year, the Seahawks have become adept at moving the ball through the air, but the results are just as hard for the opposition to swallow.

Roy Arsenault completed 8-of-13 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns as No. 3 Boothbay upset No. 2 Jay, 22-14, in a steady, light mist at Taglienti Field Friday night.

“We knew we couldn’t come in and be physical because (Jay’s) front seven is physical and they tackle well, and that’s a bad match-up,” said Boothbay coach Tim Rice. “We had to mix the run and the pass up.”

The Seahawks (7-3) only had one of three rushers with 10 or more carries break the 50-yard barrier, Blake Krukiel (13 carries, 54 yards). But they took advantage of two first- half possessions where they started with the ball in Jay territory, and got two big runs after the catch from running back Wes Alley (two catches, 77 yards).

“I’ve only got one thing to say. I take full responsibility for the loss,” said Jay coach Mark Bonnevie. “I made a horrible call at the end of the second quarter. It gave them the chance to score. They capitalized on it.”

The call Bonnevie referred to was his decision to go for it when the Tigers (6-4) had a fourth-and-four at their own 44 with under a minute left in the first half. Mike Nemi’s pass fell incomplete, giving the Seahawks a chance to pad their 8-6 lead with good field position and 43.8 seconds left.

They did just that. Following an incompletion, Arsenault hooked up with Pat Norton (4 catches, 69 yards, one TD) for an 11-yard gain. The junior QB then found Alley open in the right flat on the next play. Alley raced down the right sideline untouched and scored with 14.6 seconds left to give the Seahawks a 14-6 lead heading into halftime.

“That was one of the first times we ran that play, and it’s amazing, because I didn’t think we were going to get a touchdown out of that play,” Arsenault said.

Boothbay played classic Seahawk football to widen its lead in the third quarter. After Krukiel ran the ball down to the 2, Jay’s defense stacked up Boothbay runners for no gain on back-to-back plays. But Krukiel got the ball inside the 1 on fourth down to give the Seahawks a first down, and Alley pounded it in on the next play which, after Arsenault’s two-point conversion, made it 22-7.

Jay battled back on its next series thanks to hard running by Trevor McCourt (19 carries, 85 yards) and Nick Bourassa (10 carries, 63 yards). McCourt scored from four yards out, and Ryan Bourassa’s two-point conversion made it 22-14.

The Tigers appeared to have Boothbay stopped on its ensuing possession, but Alley broke a third down screen pass from Arsenault for 43 yards into Jay territory. A clipping penalty later in the series kept the Seahawks out of the end zone, but they were able to burn a lot more time off the clock and push Jay back to its own 6 yard line to start its next, and as it turned out, final, possession.

Keith Brewer’s interception gave the Seahawks the ball back with 3:57 left and they didn’t relinquish it. Arsenault converted a fourth-and-four with just under a minute left to clinch the win.

First downs were a lot harder for the Seahawks to come by early on. They didn’t move the chains until late in the first half, but a fumble recovered by Adam Climo at Jay’s 26 on the Tigers’ first possession of the game set up their first score. Arsenault hooked up with Norton on a post pattern on fourth-and-7 for a 23-yard touchdown to give them the early lead.

“You have to (take advantage of the short field) against a team like Jay,” Rice said. “Our kids made plays when we needed to and we kept them off-balance enough on defense.”

Jay answered with a TD pass of its own, from Nemi to Nick Bourassa for 17 yards, to pull within 8-6 late in the first quarter.