BANGOR — The coaching fraternity in Maine high school football is a strong one, so no one at Cameron Stadium could empathize with Lewiston’s Bill County more than Bangor’s Mark Hackett after 4th-and-1 dissolved into 4th-and-2010 for the Blue Devils.

“I understand his pain,” Hackett said. “Our kids had to make plays and they did it.”

Lewiston led by five, 25-20, with a little more than two minutes left when County made the decision that will be debated for years and decades to come, and not just in Lewiston. Pinned deep in their own end after Matt Therrien recovered a Joe Seccareccia fumble at his own 1, the Blue Devils were faced with a 4th-and-a- long-1 just outside their own 10.

Lewiston called timeout, then came out in punt formation. Running back Jeff Keene stepped forward, went under center and commenced barking signals to try to draw the Rams offsides, but to no avail. The Devils burned another time out, their last.

“I felt like with both defenses, the likelihood of stopping the other team was not very big,” Lewiston coach Bill County said. “We thought about it, ran a little trick play to try to draw them offsides, and collectively, we decided we were going to go for it. It came down to what play we were going to run.”

The play they decided on was a buck sweep to Keene, a play the speedy senior had gotten a large segment of his 89 rushing yards on. He’d scored a couple of touchdowns on it, too.

“We kind of went with the play that got us there. It was either that or (Joe) McKinnon on the ‘belly’ up the middle,” County said. “I thought maybe that was going to freeze them enough to get to the outside, but they just brought the house.”

And the garage, and the tool shed and the sugar shack. Just about all of them were there when Keene tried to find the right corner. Defensive end John Kelley and safety Dylan Morris were the ones who ended up bringing Keene down six yards deep in the backfield.

“I guess the conservative call there would have been to snap it in the end zone and take the safety,” County said. “I just thought they were playing well and when I got in the huddle I said, ‘Let’s take a shot. We have a shot right here. We can put this thing away.”

Instead, the Rams went to their bread-and-butter, 230-pound tailback Josiah Hartley (42 carries, 154 yards) on the next two plays and scored the winning touchdown with a tick under two minutes to go.

On the Bangor sideline, Hackett celebrated, then thought, ‘There but for the grace of the football gods …’

Late in the third quarter, after the Rams took a 20-19 lead, Hackett called for an on-side kick. Lewiston recovered at its own 44, then drove down for the go-ahead touchdown.

“I told Bill people probably questioned me why we on-side kicked it,” Hackett said. “I looked at the clock and how much time was left. I didn’t think we could stop them. I’d rather have them scoring six and get the ball back because I didn’t think they could stop us either.”

The Blue Devils stood toe-to-toe with the bigger Rams all night. Bangor went on long, laborious drives with its  power running game, led by the workhorse Hartley. Lewiston responded by using their quickness to gash them for big chunks of yardage.

The Rams tried to lean on the Blue Devils and wear them down, but Lewiston responded with hard hits, including a couple from Keene that knocked Bangor players out of the game.

“They’re really tough,” Hackett said. “We hadn’t been hit like that all year.”

A physical game came down to three feet of turf, and based on what he’d seen all night, County thought his team had three more feet left in them. 

“I think we stayed within character and I think they did,” County said. “Obviously I’m proud of the way the kids played. This is not what we came here to do. We came here to win.”

“I’m heartbroken,” he said.