Bonny Eagle QB Zack Brannon ran for three touchdowns and threw for two more against the visiting Red Riots on Friday evening, Oct. 30, fueling a huge, 47-7 quarterfinals win for the Scots.

“Our guys came out and they competed hard,” said Bonny Eagle head coach Kevin Cooper. “[But] give credit to South Portland. After all they’ve been through – they’ve had some tough things happen to them this year – they came out and really played hard.”

South Portland, for all the times the scoreboard lit up against them, never gave up. Riots head coach Steve Stinson lauded his boys’ resolve:

“I thought we competed at a really high level,” Stinson said. “We had opportunities to make plays; and to Bonny Eagle’s credit, they made the plays. But I had the feeling for the majority of the game that it was a very competitive Class A playoff game.”

The Scots put 22 points on the board in the first half, all while holding South Portland silent. Brannon rushed home a 10-yarder on Bonny Eagle’s opening drive, connected with Cam Theberge for a 76-yard breakaway up the left sideline and into the Riots’ end zone early in the second quarter, then carried another of his own – this one a five-yarder – with just seconds remaining before the break. Christian Napolitano added two PATs and Ben Autry a two-point conversion in those first 24 minutes.

The Scots’ assembled their last scoring drive of the half in less than a minute, a pace and focus Cooper was happy about. “At the end of the first half, being able to stop [South Portland] down here on the goal line, being able to get a nice punt return and score again – those things were big for us. Really proud of our guys for making plays like that.”

South Portland stormed onto the gridiron in the second half determined not to go quietly into the night. It took the Riots exactly one snap to score their first touchdown of the game, an 80-yard long-bomb pass play from QB Matt Crockett to Finn Zechman, dashing up the right sideline.

“Right now, where our personnel is, we’re not necessarily built to get a lot of looks,” Stinson said of the Riots’ passing game, “and we missed a couple third-down drops. We had to be very selective when we were going to throw the ball. We hit some and we didn’t hit some. But we were able to do some funky things; we’ve had to get a little creative with some lack of personnel.”

Alas, it would be South Portland’s only score of the night. The Scots shut their guests down entirely for the remainder of the game, and added another 25 of their own. Brannon crossed the goal line on another keeper, this one for 23 yards, just minutes after the Riots got on the board. Later, Nick Clark added a 51-yard rush score up the middle-right and Brannon hooked up with Autry for a 56-yard pass TD. Alex Sprague capped the W with a 41-yard rush touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.

“We talked to our guys about playing with good pad level up front,” Cooper said of his team’s defensive effort. “South Portland’s got a lot of big guys; they’re a lot bigger than us. But we do have pretty good quickness on defense. Our guys run around, and they’re physical at the point of attack.”

Six-seed South Portland returns to the locker room for the year at 2-7. No. 3 Bonny Eagle, now 6-3, advances to the tournament semifinals; they travel to No. 2 Deering on Friday, Nov. 6, for a 7 p.m. showdown with the Rams.

Bonny Eagle QB Zack Brannon grabs the snap and ducks toward the handoff as back Cam Day (12) rushes in to receive the ball.South Portland QB Matt Crockett cuts between a pair of linemen blockers on a keeper at Bonny Eagle on Friday.South Portland lineman Aidan Johnson jumps forward, ready to tangle with Bonny Eagler Wiley Hollen.The Scots’ Nick Clark skirts South Portland defender Finn Zechman on a run in Bonny Eagle’s massive win over the Riots, Friday night.Finn Zechman pulls in a spectacular long-bomb throw from QB Matt Crockett; Bonny Eagle’s Cam Day attempts to interrupt, but can’t quite manage it. Zechman would dash forward and into the end zone for the Riots’ lone scoring play of the game.Bonny Eagle’s Ben Autry breaks away from his South Portland coverage on his way to a long rushing TD for the Scots.

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