Maine’s fourth high school football class returned this year, and Oak Hill is returning to the state title game.

Facing much the same grinding schedule they faced last year in Class C, the second-seeded Raiders completed their near three-decade odyssey to the third state title game in school history with a 16-14 victory over No. 4 Dirigo in the Western Class D final on an unseasonably warm Saturday afternoon.

By avenging last year’s semifinal loss to Dirigo, Oak Hill advanced to next Saturday’s state championship game against Eastern D champion Bucksport at Portland’s Fitzpatrick Field, where it will seek its second state title (1982). The Maine Principals’ Association will announce the time of the game early next week.

“There are no words to explain it,” senior left tackle Bayley Beaulieu said. “We’ve worked since June. It’s just amazing. All of the hard work paid off. We stuck together and we never gave up on each other.”

Running predominantly off left tackle behind Beaulieu and senior H-back Luke Washburn, junior Kyle Flaherty rushed 34 times for 194 yards and a touchdown to lead the Raiders (9-2).

“Coach (Stacen Doucette) is always saying run behind the seniors,” Beaulieu said. “They made adjustments but our emotions and just everything that happened kicked in and we kept at it.”

With fellow junior running back Alex Mace limited to six carries by a foot injury, Flaherty kept the chains moving and helped the Raiders counter Dirigo’s clock-killing wildcat offense. That included six carries on the game-ending drive that erased the final 3:24 off the clock.

“I knew Alex’s foot was banged-up and our seniors really wanted this, so I knew I had to keep going all four quarters,” Flaherty said. “Bayley Beaulieu is an excellent lineman. He gets his block every time and we run behind him and get yard after yard.”

Dirigo (7-4) stuck with the same wildcat that played such an integral part in its semifinal upset of top-seeded Winthrop/Monmouth. The Cougars had success moving the ball in the first half with running backs Heath Hersom (19 carries, 96 yards, TD) and Brett Beauchesne (12 carries, 86 yards, TD).

But they too often abated their progress with penalties. Then Oak Hill’s defense, led by Washburn, Flaherty and Samson Larcoix, tightened its vice in the second half with more run blitzes and limited Dirigo to two first downs.

“There was one point where (quarterback) Riley Robinson asked if we should pull out of it, and I asked the kids. They said ‘No, stick to it.’ They were getting more and more used to it,” Dirigo coach Dave Crutchfield said. “We had some more plays in the book but I was worried about handing it off and losing the ball

“We hoped just to slow them down,” Doucette said. “We’re just living for the play. Bend but don’t break. We broke a couple of times but we found a way not to break more often than not.”

Dirigo tested that principle on a 16-play drive to open the game, but three false starts helped put the brakes on the seven-minute march.

One of those flags came immediately after Washburn and Ryan Stevens smothered Beauchesne for a 12-yard loss, putting the Cougars into a 2nd-and-31. On 4th-and-20 from the 27, Dalton Therrien broke up Robinson’s pass intended for Kaine Hutchins in the end zone.

“We shot ourselves in the foot and backed ourselves up (with) stupid mistakes,” Crutchfield said.

After a scoreless first quarter, Kyle Tervo set the Raiders up at Dirigo’s 39 with a 34-yard punt return. Flaherty took the handoff on every snap of a seven-play drive, the last a two-yard run into the end zone for a 6-0 lead with 9:32 left in the half.

Dirigo answered on its ensuing possession, helped by Oak Hill’s delay of game penalty on 4th-and-2. Three plays later, Hersom ran it in from the 2 and tied the game. It remained 6-6 at halftime.

The Cougars went three-and-out on three of their first four possessions of the second half and the Raiders took advantage of the resulting good field position.

They started at Dirigo’s 45 on what proved to be the game-winning drive, capped by Adam Merrill’s 22-yard field goal with 4:54 left in the third quarter.

“It’s really nice to have him out there. He seems to have nerves of steel,” Washburn said of Merrill, who kicked the game-winning extra point in the 21-20 semifinal win over Lisbon.

Oak Hill started at its own 45 on its first series of the fourth quarter and opened up a 16-6 lead when Parker Asselin connected with Mace on a 27-yard touchdown pass over the middle.

“We practiced it all week,” Asselin said. “Coach told me, ‘We’re scoring a touchdown on this play.’ Coach is right on those 95 percent of the time. I don’t know how he does it. He’s psychic or something.”

Beauchesne pulled the Cougars within striking distance again when he found a seam near the left sideline and raced 50 yards for a touchdown. Dirigo pulled a trick play out for the two-point conversion, having fullback Tyler Frost toss to Robinson in the end zone to make it 16-14 with 7:15 remaining.

Dirigo’s defense buckled down to force a punt. The offense took over at its own 46 with a little over five minutes left, but three straight runs gained just three yards. Flaherty stopped Frost on a middle screen three yards short of the first down.

A couple of first-down runs by Flaherty later, Oak Hill’s players and fans started a celebration worthy of 29 years.

“We want to put another sign up there,” said Doucette, pointing to the banner on the visitor’s sideline commemorating Oak Hill’s 1982 state championship. “We at least have the Western Maine championship, so we’re going to enjoy that for right now.”

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