One big play by a football team known for making big plays was all that prevented the Scarborough High football team from pulling off an upset last Friday evening. A 66-yard pass from Biddeford quarterback Justin Gelinas to wide receiver Josh Scott set the Tigers up for what proved to be the winning touchdown as Biddeford escaped with a 14-7 win over the upstart Red Storm.
“That’s exactly it, just one play. And it wasn’t for a touchdown, they had to earn it,” said Scarborough coach Dave Sterling after the game.
The Red Storm used a bend-but-don’t-break defense to keep Biddeford at bay for most of the first half.
The Tigers drove deep into Scarborough territory with their first possession, but the Red Storm forced the hosts into a fourth-and-18 situation that the Tigers didn’t convert. Biddeford had another drive that moved the ball to the Scarborough 15 before the Red Storm defenders came up with another big stop on fourth down as Kenny Mancuso knocked away a Gelinas pass to turn the ball back over to the Red Storm without allowing a point.
“That was a really good statement for our program to be able to keep them from putting it in the end zone,” said Sterling about the early defensive stops by the Storm.
Biddeford finally did find reach pay dirt when Gelinas tossed a 13-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Allaire with 47.3 seconds left to play in the first half. The Tigers took a 6-0 lead into the break after a failed point after attempt.
While Biddeford was trying to get through a stingy Scarborough defense, the Red Storm offense was enjoying some success on their possessions. Some hard running by Mancuso and Brendan Ham and some play action passes from quarterback Erwin Maxwell helped the Storm move the ball downfield on several occasions only to have their momentum stopped by Biddeford’s defense.
Scarborough took advantage of the Tigers’ opening drive of the second half that ended with a failed fourth down attempt at the Biddeford 35-yard line.
The Storm marched toward the Biddeford end zone and they survived two costly penalties that pushed them back 15 yards with each thrown flag. On fourth down, Maxwell threw a well-executed 16-yard touchdown pass to Reid Griffith who made a terrific catch at the goal line before falling into the end zone. Logan Oliver’s point after kick gave the Storm a 7-6 lead with 5:09 left to play in the third quarter.
“I’ve got an excellent coaching staff and they’ve done an excellent job these past few weeks getting these young men ready to play,” said Sterling. “We’re playing a totally different style football than they’ve played for the past four years.”
Biddeford’s Tyler Parker then returned the ensuing kickoff all the way to the Scarborough 13-yard line before he was hauled down. But once again the Red Storm defense came up big as they stripped the ball from Biddeford running back Ethan Scott and then quickly recovered the loose ball to end another Tiger threat.
The teams exchanged punts until the Tigers took over at their own 15-yard line following a booming punt from Scarborough’s Ben O’Connor. And on first down, Gelinas looked left for Josh Scott, who was well-covered by Griffith. Gelinas passed downfield and despite solid defense from Griffith, managed to hook up with Scott for the 66-yard play that moved the ball to the Red Storm 19-yard line.
Three straight running plays by Biddeford fullback Justin Tarbox-Toussaint led to a 1-yard scoring plunge by Gelinas that gave the Tigers a 12-7 lead with just under five minutes to play. A two-point conversion pass from Gelinas to Nate Curran pushed that lead to 14-7.
A couple of running plays from Scarborough and an incomplete pass were not enough to pick up a first down and the Red Storm was forced to punt with 3:33 to play. Biddeford managed to keep the ball the rest off the way behind the tough running of Tarbox-Toussaint and Scarborough could only watch as the seconds ticked off the clock.
“These young men have brought our program a long way in a few short weeks,” said Sterling. “They worked hard in the off-season, they worked hard in the double sessions that we had, and I’m really looking forward to the season. We’ve got a lot to build on (after the near-win). We made a statement that we’re a good football team and we’ll be able to compete with some of the better programs in the state.”
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