DIXFIELD — Dirigo came all the way back to tie Oak Hill in the second half of Friday night’s game, only for the Raiders to make one big offensive play and seal the win.

Matt Strout and Steve Gilbert hooked up for their second long touchdown pass of the game early in the fourth quarter and Oak Hill hung on for a 27-20 win in a Class D South football clash at Harlow Park.

The Raiders (4-2) started off the game with an 18-play drive. Oak Hill nearly scored to cap off the drive, but a Strout-to-Darryn Bailey pass in the end zone was nullified by an offensive pass interference call against Bailey. Strout’s fourth-down pass to Gilbert was knocked down.

Danny Buteau ended the Cougars’ (3-3) initial drive with the first of two first-half interceptions against Dirigo QB Luke Lueders. Gilbert finished off a seven-play, 45-yard drive with a 6-yard touchdown run to make it 7-0 on the first play of the second quarter.

Dirigo responded with a 74-yard kickoff return by Hunter White, which set up a 9-yard touchdown run by Cooper Chiasson two plays later. Chiasson’s extra point missed to keep it a 7-6 Oak Hill lead.

Strout and Gilbert couldn’t connect on another fourth-down pass, which ended the Raiders’ ensuing possession, but after forcing the Cougars to punt, the pair hooked up for a 53-yard score to make it 14-6 late in the first half. Gilbert took a short pass in the right flat and ran the rest himself.

“I think our receivers make Matt look good at times,” Oak Hill coach Stacen Doucette said. “We have some pretty good receivers.”

Strout, who Doucette said threw with a confidence that was lacking in last week’s loss to Lisbon, was 7-for-12 passing for 184 yards, including 141 in the first half.

The Cougars gave the ball back to Oak Hill via Buteau’s second pick, setting up a 3-yard touchdown run by Austin Noble with 19 seconds left for a 20-6 lead at the half for the Raiders.

“We’ll learn from our mistakes,” Dirigo coach Jim Hersom said. “We had a couple interceptions in the first half that hurt us.”

Dirigo made an in-game adjustment at halftime, after running just 18 offensive plays to the Raiders’ 41. The second half started with a 4-yard run by Chiasson, who gained 107 of his 126 yards after halftime.

The Cougars didn’t score on their opening possession — Oak Hill’s Adam Mooney prevented that by forcing and recovering a fumble. But Dirigo did block a Gilbert punt, then rode that momentum to a 1-yard run by Alex Gorham to cut the deficit to 20-14.

“First half, they came in with a different defense, and we had to make some changes in our blocking,” Hersom said. “Made the changes we needed to make, and we come back out and move the ball up and down the field.”

Oak Hill went three-and-out and Dirigo kept its foot on the gas by bridging the third and fourth quarters with the game-tying scoring drive. Chiasson capped that off with a 2-yard run.

The Cougars set up to go for the go-ahead extra point, but an Oak Hill offsides penalty nullified a missed kick. A yard closer to the end zone, Dirigo decided to go for two, but Gorham was stopped inches short of the goal line, keeping it a 20-20 game.

“Our goal in the second half was to weather the storm,” Doucette said. “Coach Hersom does a great job with his kids. It’s a tough team. We knew they’d make a run, and they did.”

The Raiders needed just four plays to re-take the lead. Cruz Poirier ran twice for eight yards, Strout ran for seven and a first down, then found Gilbert in the left flat, and the senior running back took it to the house. He then converted his third extra point of the game (with a clank off the right upright on another attempt) to complete the scoring with eight minutes left in the game.

The Cougars had two chances to even tie the game back up, but were put in long fourth-down passing situations. Mooney sacked Lueders to set up the first incomplete attempt (to Cam Turner), and Dirigo’s final drive featured a negative-yardage pass to White, two incomplete passes, and a fourth-down desperation pass to White that was broken up by Buteau and Gilbert.

“We got behind the stakes,” Hersom said. “Our kids know we don’t have a play for third-and-22. We just don’t have one. We’re a ball-controlled offense I think. Once we get behind the stakes it’s going to be hard.”

Oak Hill was able to get one last first down that it needed to run the clock out. Gilbert and Strout took turns running the ball, with Strout taking a knee to end it.

“We’ve had a hard time in the second halves this year,” Doucette said. “I thought this was probably our best second half of the year. The kids responded.”

Dirigo gained 154 of its 224 total yards in the second half, and finished with better rushing yardage (191 to 186) than Oak Hill.

“I’m just proud of my kids. They came out in the second half and we outplayed them,” Hersom said. “We put ourselves in a position to win the game, right?

“It came down to a few plays, but we’re right there with that team.”

wkramlich@sunjournal.com