The Rams wrap up a 12-0 season and win their first Class A title in 44 years.
PORTLAND – First, the Deering Rams took Phillip Warren out of the game. Then they took out the rest of the Brunswick Dragons.
Undefeated Deering followed a first quarter goal-line stand with a 99-yard drive to break a scoreless tie and cruised to a 28-0 win over Brunswick in the Class A football state championship Saturday before 10,000 fans at Fitzpatrick Stadium.
Senior Joe Marsh ran for 213 yards and three touchdowns on 38 carries to lead the Rams to their first state crown since 1959.
Equal credit must go to Deering’s defense, which limited Brunswick to 117 total yards and five first downs. The Rams held the 240-pound Warren, who had rushed for nearly 1,800 yards this year, to 21 yards on 16 carries.
“We just played defense. Real good defense,” said Deering coach Greg Stilphen. “This team took great pride in stopping the run all year. That sets the table for what we do on offense. It’s hard for the other team to sustain a 48-minute game when you get knocked back on your heels on offense.”
“They didn’t allow us to do the things we’ve been able to do all year,” said Brunswick coach Dick Leavitt, whose team was seeking its first title since winning Class B in 1963. “That’s as good a high school football team as I’ve seen over there.”
Brunswick threatened to draw first blood first when when a Deering penalty set up the Dragons with second-and-goal at the 1. Mike Smaha and Ryan Reid drove Brunswick QB Ralph Mims back to the 4 on a keeper on second down.
Deering (12-0) then stopped Warren, after a great second effort by the fullback, just shy of the goal line on third down.
Brunswick (10-2) went to its bread-and-butter, Warren up the middle, again on fourth down, but a host of Rams stacked him up at the one, completing the stand.
“We wanted to give the ball to the guy who got us here,” said Leavitt. “I’d probably do it again.”
“Stopping them at the goal-line was big,” Stilphen said, “but driving the field 99 yards and scoring was bigger.”
Deering followed with a 13-play, 99 yard drive, featuring Marsh behind Jon Presby and Joe Melcher on the left side of the offensive line. Marsh’s biggest run, though, came behind the right side, as he kept the Dragons from laying a finger on him and scampered 19 yards to paydirt to put the Rams on the scoreboard with 7:55 left in the first half.
They maintained a 7-0 lead at the break.
“That left side is our strong side. Jon Presby is the best offensive lineman in our league, and Joe Melcher has had a great year,” Stilphen said. “Joe Marsh doesn’t get enough credit. He’s a great back.”
“We were pretty confident (at halftime),” Marsh said. “We just knew we had to score again. I thought we moved the ball up and down the field. We just needed a touchdown to ice the cake.”
Adam Bishop’s interception of a deflected pass got the cake out of the oven, setting up the Rams at the Brunswick 49. Nine plays later, Marsh scored from six yards out.
“You think you have him contained, but he’s pretty elusive,” Leavitt said. “Most of the day I thought we did OK on him, but then he started getting outside.”
With Mims (eight rushes, 47 yards) its only effective runner, Brunswick struggled to move the ball all game and did itself no favors with two second-half turnovers.
Chris Arich recovered the first fumble at the Dragon 32. Marsh took a handoff on the next play and zig-zagged through the Brunswick defense to make it 21-0.
Deering’s James McDonald recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and Reid scored from a yard out 10 plays later to put the game away 21 seconds into the fourth quarter.
“The dream turned into a nightmare pretty quick,” Leavitt said.
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