SKOWHEGAN — For 48 minutes, Adam Savage was nothing short of a magician.
The Skowhegan senior quarterback dazzled through the air and on the ground Friday night in a 66-48 victory over Lawrence in a Class B North semifinal game at Reginald Clark Memorial Field. As it turned out, the River Hawks would need every bit of Savage’s magic against the prolific Bulldogs.
Savage completed 8 of 13 passes for 226 yards and four touchdowns and ran the ball 22 times for 236 yards and three touchdowns as Skowhegan advanced to the regional final, where it will host Falmouth. The Navigators knocked off top-ranked Cony 35-28 on Friday in a rematch of those teams’ regular season finale in Week 8.
The River Hawks scored touchdowns on all nine of their possessions.
“They fought us pretty good, and I just had to keep my head down and keep running,” Savage said. “My coaches do a great job of pumping me up before games. They just told to me to lower my shoulder and go hard, and my blockers and receivers made great plays.”
Sixth-ranked Lawrence (4-6) led 14-6 after the first quarter with touchdown passes from Michael Hamlin to to Gavin Lunt and Parker Higgins bookending a 46-yard bomb from Savage to Quintcey McCray. The River Hawks then tied it early in the second quarter as Savage ran the ball in from 4 yards out and added the 2-point conversion.
Higgins and Savage kept trading scores with the former scoring on an 80-yard kick return and the latter finding Tyler Annis for a 32-yard touchdown. Higgins added touchdown runs of 56 and 32 yards, but Savage answered both times, first on a 34-yard pass to Annis and again on a 61-yard run that put No. 2 Skowhegan (8-2) up 36-34 a minute before half.
Skowhegan’s Adam Savage (10) leaps over the Lawrence defensive line for the two-point conversion during a Class B North football game Friday in Skowhegan. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
After Savage scored on a 23-yard run with 10:09 left in the third quarter to make it 44-34, Higgins responded with a 64-yard run to cut the deficit with a field goal. Yet Savage then hit Annis for a 45-yard score to put the River Hawks up 52-41, and Skowhegan then got a rare stop as Lawrence turned it over on downs in the red zone.
“We’ve always been working together like that; we have great chemistry,” Savage said of his success finding Annis, who finished with four catches for 113 yards and the three touchdowns. “We’ve always had that connection between us, so tonight was nothing unusual.”
McEwen, who rounded out the scoring for Skowhegan with a 7-yard run with a minute left to play, finished with 11 carries for 137 yards and two scores for Skowhegan. The River Hawks racked up 620 yards of total offense in what was their biggest scoring output in at least two decades.
Lawrence, though, certainly didn’t make it easy for Skowhegan. Higgins finished with 21 carries for 231 yards, effectively matching Savage on the ground. Quarterback Michael Hamlin finished 8 of 10 for 106 yards and two touchdowns with four of his completions going to Lunt for 82 yards.
Although Lawrence had some offensive success after the break, the Bulldogs’ 14-point effort in the second half paled in comparison to their 34-point first. Skowhegan, head coach Ryan Libby said, made a number of alignment and personnel adjustments that did enough to stymy Lawrence’s high-powered offense.
“We kind of switched it up, and instead of a five-man (front), we went with a lot more four-man, which is more of our base,” Libby said. “We had subs in, so we kind of reverted back to our preseason stuff and let them play. We got the subs settled down and lined up better at halftime, and that made a big difference.”
Skowhegan’s Quintcey McCray (3) tries to defend Lawrence’s Gavin Lunt (83) on a first down reception during a Class B North football game Friday in Skowhegan. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
It was the second-straight explosive offensive output for Skowhegan, which beat Brewer 42-6 last week in a game that saw the starters score five touchdowns in the first half. It’s an offense that’s improved massively from the River Hawks’ last two regular games, in which they scored a combined 14 points.
“Our game plans have been great, the coaches have made some great play calls, and the team has been executing everything,” Savage said. “That’s all you can really ask for is to come out with a great game plan and be able to execute it.”
Unlike their playoff opponents thus far, the River Hawks did not face Falmouth in the regular season this year. Just as Higgins gave the Skowhegan defense fits Friday night, the Navigators have the potential to do the same with a potent backfield duo of Finn Caxton-Smith and Indi Backman.
“It’s going to take the same never-quit attitude that we had tonight,” Libby said. “We had that never-quit attitude when they kept punching us back, and we just kept rolling. We didn’t play them in the regular season, so it will be interesting.”
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