The boys from the County came of age in high school football, playing up to their big brothers from down state.
At Husson University Field Monday night, the Shires collected a thrilling 12-6 victory over John Bapst’s junior varsity squad. With a little over four minutes remaining in the final stanza, John Bapst was knocking on the door. Pushing the ball
to the Houlton 15 yard line, Bapst had two time outs and a first down. Houlton’s defense stiffened, burned the opposition time outs and took over on downs with only 44 seconds on the clock. Quarterback Ryan Heath took a knee twice to preserve the victory for the Shires (6-1).
This game was a slugfest with neither team giving nor taking any quarter.
At 7:01 of the first quarter Heath drew a bead to the right side and crossed the goal line just inside the marker, but John Bapst responded, tying the game at 6-6.
In the third quarter, tailback Josh Upton broke things open for the Shires with an incredible 76-yard run to push the score to 12-0.
The Shires boarded the bus for the long journey home knowing that they could compete.
Coach Brian Reynolds applauded his team’s effort.
“There were so many heroes tonight,” he said. “(Mike) Holmes tackle of a breakaway runner, (Dakota) Grammours and (Chris) Stoddards unbelievable play at defensive end and (Jacob) Jones, (Tony) Bonilla, (Sabastion) Walton, (Nick) Hagan, (Sam) Richardson and (Gary) Tucker plugging up the middle. (Garret) Ring did a nice job at the corner with (Nick) Botting. (Jake) Conrad played tough at his new position at outside linebacker as did (DJ) Shuurman. They did all that we asked.”
