FALMOUTH — The Messalonskee football team was able to keep up with the high-powered Falmouth offense in the first half, but the home team wore down the visitors from Oakland en route to a convincing 42-14 win last night.
The Eagles trailed by a touchdown at halftime, but the offense that generated 146 yards and no turnovers in the first half was limited to less than 75 after intermission, to go along with one turnover.
“They’re a good team,” Messalonskee coach Brad Bishop said. “They were good at what they had to do tonight.”
Falmouth quarterback Jack Bryant had his hand in four of the scores, with three passing TDs and one on the ground. He finished 17-for-27 for 205 yards, with 81 yards on the ground.
Messalonskee opened the game by driving down the field with six straight runs to get to the Falmouth 38. On third-and-15 Deklan Thurston found Tyler Lewis for 31 yards to the 7. Two plays later Alden Balboni crashed in from 6 yards for a 6-0 lead 3:28 into the game.
It didn’t take long for Falmouth to answer — four plays to be exact. Bryant found Brady Douglas in stride down the left sideline for 47 yards. John Walker’s PAT gave the Yachtsmen a 7-6 lead.
Falmouth extended its lead to 14-6 on a methodical 13-play, 76-yard drive that spanned the first and second quarters. A perfect 8-yard fade pass to the back left corner of the end zone by Bryant landed in Emilio Micucci’s arms.
The Eagles refused to go away. They put on their own long drive — 12 plays for 61 yards — to tie the game with 5:54 left in the first half on Lewis’ 4-yard sweep to the left. A big 2-yard gain by Austin Pelletier on fourth and inches from the Falmouth 21 kept the drive alive. Pelletier tacked on the two-point conversion.
The home team got the lead back before intermission. After Nick Ryer caught a squib kick to give Falmouth good field position at its 44-yard line, Garrett Aube scored from 1 yard out with 3:17 left for a 21-14 advantage. Bryant found Griffin Aube for 23 yards on a sideline out pattern to get the Yachtsmen in the red zone.
Lewis finished with 64 yards on 10 carries. Pelletier was bottled up for most of the night but still grinded out 41 yards on 14 carries.
“We were really balanced tonight,” Falmouth coach John Fitzsimmons said. “I was very happy with our running and passing games.”
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