PORTLAND – Belfast watched drives nearly screech to a halt twice Saturday night.

Both times, however, the Lions managed to find one more big play to keep those drives alive.

Those plays led to key touchdowns as Belfast opened a two-touchdown lead, and the Lions held off a late Gorham charge to earn a 28-16 win in the Class B football championship at Fitzpatrick Stadium.

“When you look at it, those are big-time plays,” said Belfast co-coach Butch Richards. “The pressure’s on. The team that comes up with big plays on third-and-long and fourth-and-long are going to be successful, and we did that.”

Belfast converted a third-and-16 late in the second quarter to break an 8-8 tie. Then, in the fourth, the Rams forced Belfast into a fourth-and-4 at the 4, only to watch the Lions score.

“This was our main objective for the year,” said quarterback Nick Arthers, who had three touchdowns for the Lions (9-2). “Everybody kind of counted us out from making it back to the state championship. We made it back here and proved everybody wrong.”

Belfast lost in the state final to Scarborough last year. After regular season losses to Winslow and Brewer, the Lions even questioned themselves.

“This is a group of over-achieving kids,” said co-coach Butch Arthers, Nick’s father. “We learned a lot in the games with Brewer and Winslow, enough so that we could comeback and beat them the second time around.”

Though Belfast built a 22-8 lead, Gorham (8-3) made things interesting late.

A 60-yard pass play to Andy Oldenburg set Gorham up at the 2. He fumbled inside the 5, but the Lions couldn’t recover in bounds.

Oldenburg took it from the 1 with 1:25 left in the game, making it 22-16. Belfast’s Jamie Potvin recovered the onside kick, and Belfast took it in with 27 seconds left on Arthers’ third score of the game.

“The guys are real young,” said Gorham coach Dave Kilborn, who only loses a handful of seniors. “We’ve got the taste of this game in our mouths. Next year, I believe we’re going to be the favorites, and I hope we are. We want the Gold Ball at Gorham. We’re disappointed at the outcome today, but I think hopefully (we’ve) earned a little bit more respect, and that’s a big part of our program.”

Gorham took the early lead. The Rams stopped Belfast after fumbling away the opening kickoff. Gorham then marched downfield 74 yards for the 8-0 lead.

Tyson Nason fumbled at the goal line, but Andrew Hutton recovered the ball in the end zone with 2:26 left in the quarter.

After another possession stalled thanks to penalties, the Lions started to get the offense rolling, and the Rams struggled to stop them.

Belfast finished the game with 292 yards rushing. Josh Aldus led the ground game with 124 yards on 20 carries. Paul Herman added 83 yards on 11 carries, and Arthers had 60 yards on 14 carries.

“I’ve got to give most of my compliments to the linemen and the backs,” said Nick Arthers. “The backs ran hard and the linemen really opened up the holes. They really got it done.”

Belfast tied the game with 9:46 left in the half when Arthers zig-zagged his way into the end zone from 24 yards out.

The Lions put together another drive and got to the 16, where they faced third-and-long. Before the Rams could seize the momentum with a defensive stop, Aldus rushed around the left side for a 16-yard scoring run and a 16-8 lead.

Gorham threatened with a drive late in the half but ran out of time. The Rams then failed to take advantage of two Belfast fumbles early in the third quarter.

“They had some good adjustments in terms of the defense,” said Kilborn, whose team had only three first downs in the second half. “Ronnie Morse is one of the best linebackers that we’ve seen this year. We had to try to adjust to him, and he was the one that we doing a lot of damage to our offense.”

With Gorham struggling to move the ball, the Rams went for it on fourth-and-4 from their own 46.

Oldenburg, who led Gorham with 94 yards on 23 carries, was stopped short. Belfast quickly moved downfield and provided some breathing room when Arthers scampered in on fourth down from the 4 with 7:21 left.

“We always go for it,” said Kilborn. “Fourth-and-four or fourth-and-five, that’s something we always go for. I believe in my offensive line. They should get five yards without question. That’s something I never question in my mind.”

Gorham got nearly half its yardage in the second half on the late pass play to Oldenburg.

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