BRUNSWICK — Brunswick scored four times on its first eight plays from scrimmage to roar out to a 27-6 lead and overwhelm Mt. Blue, 47-12, at the Dragons’ homecoming on Friday night.
Coming off a 42-0 home loss to Kennebunk the week before, the Dragons not only came out breathing fire but kept the heat on the Cougars through the rest of the first half and one series into the second half before turning things over to their reserves.
“After that loss to Kennebunk, we all talked, really bonded as a team this week, had a great week of practice and came out here executing,” senior QB Nate Girardin said. “It feels great.”
The Dragons (3-2) gobbled up 400 yards from scrimmage in the first half, including 340 rushing on just 17 carries.
By the end of the night, three Brunswick rushers reached the century mark — fullback Cam Hathaway (eight carries, 124 yards, two TDs), running back Donald Bromiley (eight carries, 101 yards, TD) and running back Mitch Lienert (five carries, 100 yards, TD). Girardin added 88 yards and two touchdowns on four carries and also had a touchdown pass.
“Our line was great,” Bromiley said. “They got right in there and were blowing holes right up. That’s one thing I’ve got to say, our line has always got our back.”
“I think it’s starting to sink in with the kids that there are only four or five weeks left to the season, and for the first time, they’re really going all out,” Brunswick coach Dan Cooper said. “They realize this journey is coming to a close and they want it to end well. It was a little more sense of urgency this week to focus and get better, and I think that showed. The execution was pretty good.”
After forcing the Cougars to punt on the game’s opening series, Lienert broke Brunswick’s second play from scrimmage 70 yards for the first score.
Another three-and-out by Mt. Blue (2-3) set the Dragons up at their own 32, where Bromiley took the first-down pitch inside and raced 68 yards on the same play Lienert broke for a 14-0 lead.
The dazed Cougars snapped out of it briefly with a 48-yard run by Caleb Haines, followed by a 31-yard TD pass from Hunter Meeks to Noah Bell to pull within 14-6.
But Hathaway’s subsequent first down carry went for 64 yards before he was forced out at the 1. Hathaway finished it off on the next play for a 21-6 Brunswick bulge with 3:53 left in the first quarter.
“Momentum is a great part of the game,” Girardin said. “We came out firing, but we had to stay humble, keep working, (treat it as) 0-0 on the scoreboard the whole way and keep our foot on the gas.”
Led by Haines (six carries, 89 yards in the first half), the Cougars moved the ball effectively at times. But 141 yards of offense in the opening half was partly negated by nine penalties totaling 75 yards and mistakes deriving from trying to get all of the points back in one play.
“Sometimes we call it ‘squeezing it,’ and we perhaps could have done that. Certainly, we didn’t play clean,” Mt. Blue coach Nate Quirion said. “We lacked discipline in areas, in terms of our play, but certainly not in the way we conducted ourselves.”
Brunswick mixed it up to take a three-touchdown lead on a 39-yard pass from Girardin to Tyler Nadeau.
“I just believed he was going to be where he needed to be, took my drop just as coach taught me to do and I threw it up where he taught me to throw it,” Girardin said.
Touchdown runs by Nadeau and Hathaway, of 30 and 39 yards, respectively, capped the first-half scoring.
Brunswick opened the second half with its most methodical drive of the night, nine plays, 74 yards, which ended with Girardin’s second TD run, from 39 yards. That put the clock on running time and ended the night for most of the Dragons’ starters.
Haines finished with 108 yards on eight carries for the Cougars.
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