OLD ORCHARD BEACH — It was a slow start for both Old Orchard Beach and Spruce Mountain on Friday night as neither team was able to crack the scoreboard in the opening quarter — and it looked like it could be a low-scoring Class D football battle.

That definitely wasn’t the case as the two teams combined for 65 points in the final three quarters. Unfortunately for the Seagulls, it would be the visiting Phoenix leaving with a 33-32 victory.

It didn’t take long after the scoreless first quarter for the scoreboard to start lighting up. OOB would strike first as standout quarterback Dylan Boudreau scored on a 6-yard run on the first play of the second period. The 2-point try was no good and it was a 6-0 lead for the Gulls.

Spruce Mountain answered in a hurry as Brandon Frey received the ensuing kickoff and took it 88 yards to the house to tie the game at 6-6.

The Gulls would respond with another scoring drive. Boudreau raced 37 yards on the second play of the drive to put OOB in Spruce Mountain territory. The Spruce defense would hold the OOB offense on the next three plays which made it fourth-and-2.

OOB coach Dean Plante elected to go for it and Boudreau would not only pick up the first down, the senior took it 30 yards for the score.

Senior Ryun Hogan would run in the 2-point conversion to make it 14-6 with 8:50 left in the half.

Spruce was able to cut the lead to just one before the first half ended. Senior QB Brett Frey hit Nick Lombardi for a 9-yard touchdown with 2:59 remaining in the second quarter. The extra point was good and the OOB lead was 14-13.

“In the first half, I think, if we play better on special teams we are probably up 14-0 at halftime and then it’s a whole different ball game,” said Plante. “We moved the ball at times, we had a couple costly turnovers there when we had some momentum … I just told them ‘some nights you get the bounces and some nights you don’t.’ (A Spruce player) dropped one and it bounced back in his arms for a 20-yard gain.”

The Phoenix took their first lead of the game on their first drive of the second half. Frey would once again do it through the air as he connected with Kayle Stewart on a 13-yard scoring strike. Spruce was able to get the 2-point try and took a 21-14 lead.

OOB put together a nice drive after the Spruce touchdown, but the Seagulls would end up turning it over on downs at the 5-yard line.

The Gulls’ defense would help out their offense as they got a 2-yard loss on the first play, and then Chandler Payea sacked the Spruce QB in the end zone for a safety to make it 21-16 with 3:10 left in the third.

After receiving the punt after the safety, it took OOB just four plays to score — and once again it was on a fourth-down play. Boudreau called his own number on a fourth-and-2 and would race into the end zone from 40 yards out. The 2-point try was good — on another Boudreau run — and it was 24-21 in favor of the Gulls.

Spruce answered on its next drive as the Phoenix put together a 10-play scoring drive that ended with Frey hitting Lombardi for a 15-yard score. The extra point was no good and Spruce took a 27-24 lead with 9:55 remaining in regulation.

The Phoenix were able to add to their lead later in the fourth when Frey hit his brother Brandon Frey with a 20-yard score to make it 33-24 with 6:40 remaining.

The Seagulls were not going to go away quietly. Boudreau led OOB down the field late in the fourth and would finish off a nice drive with a 5-yard scoring run. He also added the 2-point try to cut the lead to 33-32 with 1:57 left.

Unfortunately for the Gulls, their onside kick attempt would go out of bounds and Spruce was able to run out the clock for the win.

Boudreau had a huge game for the Seagulls as he ran for 254 yards and added 110 yards through the air for a total of 364 yards — and all four OOB touchdowns — in the tough loss.

“Dylan’s our go-to, I mean he’s one of the top backs in Class D, we know that and everybody knows that,” said Plante, who was happy to have Boudreau back on the field after he missed most of last week’s game. “It’s nice to have him back, obviously, we are more balanced and have some more options when he’s in the game. We missed him last weekend.”

The OOB defense held Spruce Mountain to just 154 total yards on offense, but the Phoenix were able to beat the Seagulls through the air in several crucial situations. A big reason for the Gulls’ struggles in the secondary was the absence of standout Cody Blanchette, who was injured early in the game.

“We lost Cody on the first play and that changes what we do in the secondary. We had some kids out of position and (Spruce Mountain) found them in the second half,” said Plante.

With the Seagulls missing a key starter each of the last two weeks, Plante knows his team needs someone else to step up as they head into the regular season finale against Dirigo and get ready for the Class D South playoffs in a couple weeks.

“We are one of the few (teams) that didn’t run to (Class) E. We stayed and we understand what we’re up against with being a small school,” said Plante on dealing with injuries. “In Class D South that’s par for the course. We do that year in, year out … we don’t co-op with anybody, but we’re not going to make excuses either. Somebody else needed to step up and it didn’t happen.”

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