The Gorham Rams (2-0) football team exploded in the second half against Portland (0-2), scoring twenty-eight points en route to a 36-0 drubbing of the Bulldogs in front of a home crowd.
Justin Villacci had over 275 yards of total offense for the Rams, plus an interception in the first quarter to lead the Rams to their second victory of the season. Quarterback Evan Nash was 5 for 6, throwing for 212 yards with two long touchdown passes to Villacci, and tailback Duncan Allen rushed for two touchdowns in the third quarter.
“He came alive,” said Gorham head coach Dave Kilborn, of Allen. “We’ve been working a lot with them in practice, trying to work on what we’re doing, and I think Duncan’s finally getting it, which is a great thing.”
“Obviously, they’re a good football team, and their big plays hurt us,” said Portland head coach Mike Bailey. “They ended up getting a long run, a couple long passes, and for our team being very, very young, I thought we did a great job in the first half shutting them down.”
Gorham’s first possession of the game lasted only four plays before Portland forced a fumble and regained control of the football. However, Villacci stepped up and made his first of many spectacular plays in the contest, picking off a throw from Portland quarterback Joe Zukowski to get Gorham’s offense back on the field. One fake punt worked, while a second one didn’t fool anybody on the Bulldogs.
With Portland in control again, Ryan McMullen forced a fumble, getting the ball back into the hands of quarterback Evan Nash. Nash responded by immediately throwing an 80 yard touchdown pass to Villacci. After converting on the two-point conversion, Gorham was up, 8-0. The score remained 8-0 during the second quarter.
“It was a little scary,” said Kilborn. “They’re a very good team, and I’m glad we played them at the beginning of the season and not the end because they’re going to get better and better.”
“We played well (in the first half),” said Bailey. “We played with a lot more intensity than we did a week ago. Now we just have to go back to the drawing board and try to get better next week.”
Gorham opened up in the second half. The Rams started the third quarter on their own 26 yard line, needing to march 74 yards for a touchdown. Three rushes from Duncan Allen gave the Rams a first down, until an 18-yard run gave Allen his first TD of the game. After another two-point conversion, the score was 16-0 in favor of Gorham.
After a three-and-out possession from the Bulldogs, Gorham found themselves starting out on the 5-yard line. One quick rush from Villacci was followed by the second Nash-to-Villacci touchdown pass of the game, this time for 87 yards. The Rams didn’t convert on the two-point conversion, but with the score now 22-0, Gorham clearly had the game in control.
Duncan Allen closed out the show when he scored his second TD, this time a 40 yard scamper to finish up the third quarter making the score 29-0 after the extra point.
The top player for Portland on offense was running back Tevin Vieira, who ran for 103 yards in the game.
“We’re almost there,” said Kilborn. “We’ve got a long way to go before we can even think about getting into the playoffs. We’ve got a lot of work to do, and who knows what’s going to happen in the next couple of weeks.”
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