BIDDEFORD — On a night when the Biddeford and Gorham football teams combined for 863 yards of offense, it was Biddeford that made the key defensive plays at the right times.
The Tigers turned a pair of interceptions into first-half scoring drives, pulling away early for a 50-28 win in a Class B South game.
Biddeford is now 2-1, while Gorham is 0-3.
“It was just teamwork. It was all of us. We work together,” said Biddeford senior running back Ivan Ramos, who scored three touchdowns and accounted for 277 (161 rushing, 116 receiving) of his team’s 500 yards.
The Tigers had the ball eight times in the first half and scored six touchdowns. Biddeford’s no-huddle, fast-paced spread offense kept the Rams guessing and on their heels throughout the first half.
“I just don’t think we were mentally sharp enough in the first half to stop their different looks,” Gorham Coach Sam Morrison said.
Gorham took an 8-7 lead with 4:34 left in the first quarter when Cody Sellick ran 46 yards for a touchdown and quarterback Izak Young ran in the 2-point conversion after a bad snap.
Biddeford answered a minute and a half later, when Ramos scored his first touchdown – a 6-yard run.
The Tigers got the ball back on Colin Gregoire’s interception, and Ramos scored on a 15-yard run with 33 seconds left in the quarter to push Biddeford’s lead to 22-8.
The teams traded TDs in the second quarter. Gregoire’s second interception set up Biddeford at the Gorham 48, and four plays later, Gregoire scored on a 13-yard run for a 43-14 lead with 4:57 left in the half.
Young’s 3-yard touchdown run with 32 seconds left cut Gorham’s deficit to 43-20 at the break.
Biddeford gained 332 of its 500 yards in the first half. Coming off a 34-33 loss at York last week, Biddeford knew it couldn’t let up offensively in the second half. While the Tigers slowed things down to run the clock with the lead, they kept the ball moving.
“We were coming off that one-point loss. We didn’t want that to happen again,” said Ramos, who capped the Tigers’ scoring with an 11-yard touchdown reception from Patrick O’Driscoll early in the fourth quarter.
O’Driscoll threw for 249 yards and three touchdowns. His 42-yard scoring strike to Kaden Cadorette (three catches, 105 yards) opened the scoring with 7:44 left in the first quarter. O’Driscoll connected with Cadorette again in the second quarter for 53 yards and a 36-14 lead.
Sellick had 18 carries for 148 yards for the Rams and caught two passes for 36 yards. CJ Whitehead caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Young (143 yards passing, 48 rushing) in the second quarter.
Travis Lazarczyk — 207-861-9242
tlazarczyk@pressherald.com
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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