AUGUSTA — There was valor and tenacity on both sides of the scrimmage line in a battle of oneupmanship between Cony and Mt. Blue high schools at Alumni Field on Friday evening.

Fans were treated to a real shoving match, where Cony’s passing lit up the sky before the Rams had the final say in the second half with their 41-22 victory.

Cony quarterback Taylor Heath stunned the Cougars when he reeled off three touchdown passes to Jordan Roddy minutes apart to give the Rams a 21-0 lead in the first quarter. Junior Cameron Dunlop split the uprights on all three occasions for the extra points.

But the Cougars can play that kind of game, too, and they did when they answered with three touchdowns in the second quarter.

The Cougars got on the scoreboard when Cole Dorman found Makao Thompson for a 19-yard pass that put Mt. Blue at the 15. Thompson came across again with a 9-yard run and Dorman scored on a keeper. The conversion failed, but the touchdown got things rolling for the Cougars.

The Rams were starting to make their move on the next set of downs when Sean Testa intercepted the ball. Mt. Blue squandered that opportunity, but Cony coughed up the ball on the fumble and Jared Brown recovered it at the 18.

The Cougars wasted no time scoring when Thompson scored on an 18-yard rush and delivered the two-point conversion as well.

Mt. Blue kept closing in on Cony and forced the Rams to punt on the next set of down.

The Cougars got the ball back at the 30 and moved all the way to the 14 where Noah Carlton scored and came across with the two-point conversion, giving Mt. Blue 22-21 lead at halftime.

“It was actually a great game,” Mt. Blue coach Jim Aylward said. “We came down shorthanded, and by the time the game came down to the fourth quarter and the game was on the line, we had more kids behind me than in front of me.

“No excuses. Heath and Roddy, they are going to give a lot teams fits. The especially gave us fits.”

While the Cougars’ comeback undoubtedly rattled the Rams, Cony didn’t roll over in the second half and came right back at Mt. Blue.

Mt. Blue opened the window of opportunity for the Rams early in the third quarter when the Cougars fumbled the ball.

That’s when the firm of Heath and Roddy went back in business. Heath launched a 48-yard pass and Roddy was there with open arms for the touchdown. Dunlop did his thing on the extra point and the Rams were on top again.

It didn’t stop there for Cony, either.

The Rams were so confident that they pulled off a mesmerizing double-pass play where Heath threw it to Chad Bickford, who sent it downfield for 81 eye-opening yards to Anthony Sousa who took it into the end zone.

Cony topped off their lead when Roddy scored on a five-yard touchdown to make it 41-22.

“It seems every time we play these guys, it goes down to the wire,” Cony coach B.L. Lippert said. “It’s a big play here and a big play there that’s the difference, and thankfully, we made a couple that were late and we able to pull it out.

“We had a second half that accounted for our mistakes. We challenged the kids and see to what type of character we have.”