To the surprise of most, the Brunswick Dragons football team will play in the Eastern Class A Final Friday night in Bangor. The third-ranked Dragons advanced by virtue of a stunning 27-14 semifinal round upset win at No. 2 Lawrence Friday.

Brunswick, which was expected to be a bystander to a Bangor-Lawrence regional final, instead crashed the party. After a 6-2 regular season and a 47-26 win over No. 6 Cony in the quarterfinals failed to earn the Dragons much respect, Friday’s win in Fairfield should do the trick.

Brunswick scored first on a TD run from senior Rashon Edgerton, but the Bulldogs scored twice in the second quarter to seemingly take control, 14-7.

Lawrence wouldn’t score again.

Late in the first half, senior Stefan Jensen tied the score with a TD run. Then, in the in third, Jensen and Edgerton hooked up for a TD pass which gave the Dragons a 21-14 lead. Edgerton then found sophomore Dylan Walton for a long TD pass early in the fourth and Brunswick’s defense kept the clamps on Lawrence the rest of the way as the Dragons advanced, 27-14.

Brunswick (9-1) and Bangor (10-0) didn’t play this year. The teams met a year ago in the regular season and the host Dragons won, 20-12. The squads met in the 2003 Eastern A Final and the Dragons advanced to the state game with a victory. Brunswick hopes history repeats itself Friday.

The Morse Shipbuilders weren’t as fortunate. Ranked second in Eastern B, Morse’s quest for a second straight regional crown was denied by No. 3 Gardiner, 20-13, in the semifinals.

The Shipbuilders defeated the Tigers, 7-0 back on Sept. 11 in Gardiner, en route to a 6-2 regular season mark. Morse had no trouble with No. 7 Mt. Desert Island (35-15) in the quarterfinals, but Friday’s game was another story.

A Michael Walton-to-Everett Moye TD pass put the Shipbuilders up early, 6-0, but the visiting Tigers turned the game late in the first half with two quick scores (a TD run and an interception return) for a 13-6 advantage at the break. A touchdown run by Gardiner midway through the third made it 20-6, but Morse got back within seven, 20-13, on a Walton TD run. The Shipbuilders couldn’t get any closer, however, and went down to defeat, ending their season at 7-3.

 

Morse senior Luke Moreau goes way up to defend a Gardiner pass during Friday night’s Eastern Class B semifinal round game. The Shipbuilders saw their season end in painful fashion with a 20-13 defeat.