GRAY — A failed fourth-down conversion to start the second quarter halted what had been a good start by Telstar. When the Rebels did the same thing to to Gray-New Gloucester while trailing to start the fourth quarter, it helped propel Telstar to an eight-man football victory on the road Friday night.
That stalled drive was one of just two for the Rebels, who scored on all five of their second-half possessions in a 54-42 win at Myles Burbank Memorial Field.
Telstar (2-1) quarterback Davin Mason needed only 2 yards to get a first down on the first play of the second quarter, but the Patriots (1-2) defense stonewalled him for no gain. It was a rare stop for the Gray-New Gloucester defense, especially against Mason. The junior signal-caller ran for four touchdowns in the second half and set up the fifth with a completion on fourth down.
“Davin is very level-headed because of his experience,” Telstar coach Tim O’Connor said. “He’s played a lot of football, and these last two games (including a win over Sacopee Valley last week) are probably the best couple of games that I’ve seen him play. And he’s maturing into a really good quarterback.”
Mason was 13 of 23 passing for 182 yards, including a touchdown pass to Teddy Doyle that gave the Rebels a 16-0 lead in the first quarter. He completed his final five passes, and seven of his final eight.
“We were just trying to connect passes, make plays, keep the defense honest. Do what we do,” Mason said.
“It was tough, but it’s been tough for us to stop anyone’s offense,” Patriots head coach Brian Jahna said. “I mean, ultimately, we have to figure out how to tackle people, and how to work our way downhill, and until we do that we’re probably not going to stop offenses.”
The Patriots made two stops in the second quarter and took a 22-16 lead into halftime. Danny Stash threw for a touchdown (31 yards to Gabriel Gendreau) and ran for another in the period. In between, there was a successful onside kick.
The Rebels had a chance to score going into halftime, but consecutive holding penalties put them in a second-and-46 situation that ended those hopes.
Gray-New Gloucester then was successful on another onside kick attempt to start the second half, and Stash finished off the ensuing drive with another touchdown run to make it 30-16.
“We have not had great luck kicking the ball deep because teams tend to return it. So part of it was just making sure playing it safe,” Jahna said. “So if we got the onside kick, then great, but then also we just wanted to make sure that they were not returning it on us.”
Mason and Stash went back and forth finishing off drives with scores on quarterback keepers, and the Patriots took a 36-32 lead into the fourth quarter. They also took a fourth down near midfield into the final period, but Stash was flushed out of the pocket on the play and his throw sailed out of bounds.
Mason ran in for his third touchdown keeper of the game five plays later and the Rebels never looked back.
“We lost our details. We were not following our blocking, we weren’t doing assignments. I think that not getting it was more a sign of us losing focus than it really being the momentum being lost,” Jahna said. “I think that we just lost focus there for a little bit, and then certainly after that, it was hard to get the momentum. We just couldn’t stop them. So as they kept coming down we couldn’t match them, and every time they had the ball at the end, they were scoring.”
“You know, usually when we’re down we all hang our heads, but coach has been preaching it to us, ‘Keep your heads up, we’re not out,'” Mason said. “We were down by two scores and we came back, we fought, everybody worked together. Line did great. Everybody did really good today.”
Mason’s final touchdown run gave the Rebels a 46-36 lead with 5:32 to go, only for Stash and Gendreau to connect on a 49-yard touchdown pass the next play to cut the deficit to four.
Brayden Stevens completed the scoring with a 4-yard touchdown run with 1:43 to play. Stash was then intercepted by William Doyle on the Patriots’ ensuing play, allowing the Rebels to kneel out the clock.
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