PORTLAND – Jay had heard so much about Bucksport superback Nick Tymoczko that they must have felt like no introduction was needed when they finally met him on the field for the Class C championship Saturday night.

By the end of the night, the Golden Bucks had made sure the Tigers would never forget meeting Tymoczko, or some of his more forward teammates, while dominating them on their way to a 42-20 victory at Fitzpatrick Stadium.

Tymoczko carried the ball 40 times for 330 yards and three touchdowns, giving him 40 touchdowns and more than 2,700 yards on the year, to lead undefeated Bucksport (12-0) to its first Class C championship and its first gold ball since winning Class B in 1983.

“Nothing surprises me anymore about Nick,” said Bucksport coach Joel Sankey. “He’s a special back. He’s so explosive and very, very durable. He didn’t miss a play tonight, on offense or defense.”

“It’s been a long time coming,” Tymoczko said. “We’re a hard-working community and I think that reflects on our whole team.”

Bucksport broke open a 7-6 game late in the first quarter by scoring 28 unanswered points. The Bucks pressured Jay QB Justin Wells (10-for-21, 230 yards, 2 TDs) all night, sacking him five times for a total of 57 yards. They didn’t blitz much, but the front four, led by end Deven Eaton (two sacks) harassed Wells into hurried throws and key losses.

Jay finishes the season 11-1.

“(Eaton) was in Justin’s face all night long,” said Jay coach Mark Bonnevie. “We tried to block him single, but that didn’t work and it took us out of some of the things we wanted to do.”

Bucksport established what it wanted to do right from the start. A 40-yard kick return by John Harvey (187 total yards) set them up at the Jay 47 on their opening drive. Eight plays later, QB Joey Carmichael threw to Harvey in the right flat for a 14-yard touchdown pass on fourth and four to put the Bucks up 7-0.

A 55-yard interception return by Zane Armandi to the Bucks’ 1 on Bucksport’s next series gave the Tigers an opportunity to respond. Wells snuck it in from a yard out. The two-point conversion failed to keep it at 7-6.

But then the mistakes began for the Tigers. Eaton’s hit on a punt forced Jay to fumble and Joel Milan recovered at the Tiger 20. Tymoczko then ran in his first score from five yards out with 10:44 left in the second quarter to make it 14-6.

Another turning point came on Jay’s next drive. A 51- yard pass from Wells to Andrew Deering (3 catches, 133 yards) put the Tigers at the Bucks’ six. Two incompletions and a sack for a 14-yard loss by Travis Tolman threw Jay back to the 20 on fourth down. Wells’ pass into the end zone was tipped and fell to the ground.

Bucksport took over at the 20, but ended up going backwards on consecutive holding penalties. Facing first-and-36 at their own nine, Tymoczko ran 82 yards to the right side to get the Bucks out of that hole and put the Jay defense in a deeper one. Harvey scored from nine yards out to make it 21-6.

“He’s extremely powerful,” said Bonnevie. “There were some plays there where I didn’t see anything there and he turned it into 10 yards.”

“That’s definitely not a long-yardage play,” Tymoczko said. “It’s primarily designed for about six yards, at the most, but the line was just fabulous and allowed me to break that off.”

A fumble in Bucksport territory later in the quarter sent Jay into the half frustrated and still down by 15. Harvey made it 28-6 with a 21-yard TD run on Bucksport’s first possession of the second half, and Tymoczko essentially put the game away with a four yard TD run at the end of the third.

Jay got TD passes of 15 and 34 yards from Wells to DiPompo in the fourth quarter. But the Tigers couldn’t stop Tymoczko, who helped the Bucks’ offense rack up 450 total yards.

That was the quickest defense that we’ve seen,” Tymoczko said. “We tried to neutralize their quickness by going right at them rather than going to the outside and it worked very well.”