PORTLAND — Zach Doyon was the only current player on the Marshwood roster to score a touchdown in the Class B football championship one year ago. Cole McDaniel had never played quarterback in his life until seven weeks ago.
Together, they led the new-look Hawks to the same result, and one that has become commonplace in the proud history of the program.
It was more difficult and nerve-wracking than the first time around, but Marshwood again held off Brunswick, 21-14, to repeat as champion Saturday night at Fitzpatrick Stadium.
The win completed a sweep for the four defending state champions in Maine football.
Marshwood, the only school to win a title in all four classes, captured the Gold Ball for the 17th time. The Hawks (10-2) led by three touchdowns after an authoritative first half before the Dragons (9-2) rallied.
“They’re a great team. We knew they weren’t just going to let us take it like that,” Doyon said. “They were going to get back in the game, and once they started to do that, we might have even panicked a little bit.”
Doyon rushed for three consecutive first downs, allowing Marshwood to run out the final 4:25 after Brunswick closed the gap on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Thomas Hanson to Jackson Gordon.
McDaniel rushed for two first half scores and made his only pass completion of the night count, connecting with Doyon for a 28-yard TD. The junior took over under center in Week 5 when Jack Spear was injured.
“It took a lot (to learn the position), but I think I settled down,” McDaniel said. “My team is the reason that we won this game.”
Doyon finished with 25 carries for 149 yards in addition to his big catch. Jesse Devereaux countered with 19 runs to 129 yards and a TD for Brunswick, whose senior workhorse, Will Bessey, was limited to one carry for no gain by a hamstring injury.
Devereaux’s 5-yard run capped a seven-minute drive to resuscitate the Dragons at the start of the second half.
“We ran the same plays. It was the kids. They tightened their chin straps a little tighter and were a little more focused,” Brunswick coach Dan Cooper said. “I was thrilled with the way they performed in the second half. We knew we were going to have to play well for four quarters to win, and we didn’t do that enough tonight.”
Marshwood rolled 44-18 a year ago and lost 44-42 to Mt. Blue in the 2012 final.
The Hawks looked every bit as prolific to start this one, out-gaining Brunswick 233 yards to 77 in the first half. Justin Stacy, Doyon and McDaniel shredded the Dragons’ second level on the opening drive, gobbling up 73 yards in only six plays.
McDaniel punctuated the statement with a 6-yard bootleg to the left side that worked for a big gain almost every time the Hawks pulled it from the playbook.
“It was from our guards pulling, our wide receivers getting down blocks, and Zach Mitchell on the outside ruining everyone,” McDaniel said.
Two Brunswick drives ended on downs in Marshwood territory in the first half, and the Hawks mostly played keep-away when they got it back.
Doyon carried it six times on a drive that gobbled up most of the final six minutes in the second quarter. McDaniel ran it in from 5 yards on fourth-and-2 with 20 seconds left.
“Their blocking was really good,” Cooper said. “We knew they were good. They really surprised us with how easy they were able to get to the edge.”
Marshwood only had one first down in the second half until Doyon’s hat trick at the end.
“We wanted to take it and not give them a chance to win it. Two amazing runs by him at the end and that was the game,” Mitchell said. “They came out and hit us. They were getting on to our backers and our safety. They played great in the second half.”
Brunswick lost another captain, Andrew Cilea, to injury during the game.
“If there was a price I could pay or an action I could do to get a little more time on the clock at the end for these seniors, I would have done anything,” Cooper said.
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