AUBURN – It was almost like an episode of the old game show, “Name that Tune.”

Messalonskee took the lead in Friday night’s Pine Tree Conference tilt four plays into overtime on Chris Pelletier’s 22-yard field goal. The Edward Little offense felt it could top that.

“These guys were on the sideline and they said straight up, ‘Coach, we’re going off-tackle and we’re sticking it in, and we can do it in two plays,” said EL coach Darren Hartley. “And I can’t believe it, but we got it done in two plays.”

Indeed, tailback Jon Demers scored from the 10-yard line in just two plays, pushing the pile for the final yard into the end zone on the 5-yard TD run that gave the Eddies a crucial 20-17 overtime win at Walton Field.

“We pushed forward as a team. Everyone drove. No one quit,” Demers said. “Holding them to three from the 10-yard line, we knew we just needed 10 yards in four downs.”

The overtime session was a microcosm of the first half. The Eddies (2-1) gave the Eagles (1-1) 5 yards to start the overtime, jumping offsides before the first play. After giving up a 2-yard gain, the defense buckled down, dropping Nick Ouellette for a 2-yard loss, then forcing an incomplete pass, before the Eagles elected to take the three points.

During the early stages of the game, Edward Little might have been happy just to leave Walton Field in one piece. Two-way starter Adam Redmun and starting safety Dylan Therrien left the game with knee injuries. Three offsides penalties helped the Eagles advance to the EL-9, but the Red Eddies stiffened and kept the game scoreless.

“We’ve really been playing good defense all year,” Demers said. “We faced some adversity. We lost a senior captain, Adam Redmun, early on, but the team persevered.”

The defense finally broke, but only after Messalonskee’s Nick Ouellette intercepted a Troy Barnies pass and returned it to the EL 11. Another offsides penalty by the Eddies set up David Hash’s TD run from 3 yards out and QB Lucas Thomas added the two-point conversion to make it 8-0.

Fortunately for EL, the Eagles were all too willing to return the penalty favors. Three personal foul penalties helped the Eddies drive down to the Eagles 4, where Chris Ringer pounded it in to pull EL within 8-6.

The flags (both sides combined for 22 penalties for 165 yards) continued to fly as both teams put together touchdown drives late in the first half. A late hit by EL set up Hash’s second TD, a 3-yard run, that made it 14-6 with 3:07 left. EL was able to drive 66 yards in the final 39 seconds, thanks in part to a late hit by Messalonskee, but due mostly to two Barnies passes – one over the middle to Demers for 36 yards, and then another 9-yard connection with his brother Travis for a touchdown with nine seconds to go. Ringer ran in the two-pointer to send both team into the intermission tied.

Edward Little’s defense began the second half like it did the first – bending but not breaking, stopping the Eagles’ opening drive on downs at their own 18. Messalonskee trumped that by halting EL’s first drive at its own 13.

The only other serious scoring threat came on the final possession of regulation. EL drove to the Messalonskee 12 with under a minute left. The Eddies then inserted sophomore Cody Goddard at quarterback and split Barnies out wide left. Goddard tried to lob the ball to the 6-foot-7 Barnies, who is headed to Maine on a basketball scholarship, on in the corner of the end zone on back-to-back plays, but Nick Fenalson, who is 7 inches shorter than Barnies, knocked down the first attempt and intercepted the second.

“I told the guys on the sideline I’d have bet a lot of money that we were going to score on that fade ball to Troy on back-to-back plays,” Hartley said.

Demers finished the game with 91 yards rushing on 23 carries. Ouellette, Hash and Matt Natole combined for 200 rushing yards for Messalonskee.