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Edward Little High School Caden Begos (22) is meet by Bangor High School defense (L-R) (6) Alex Yakubu and (9) Nick Canarr, during first half action at Cameron Stadium in Bangor Friday night. BDN Terry Farren
BANGOR — Senior halfback Caden Begos rushed for 142 yards and four touchdowns on 19 carries as Edward Little of Auburn opened the Class A football season with a 44-0 victory over Bangor at Cameron Stadium on Friday night.
Senior quarterback Grant Hartley added 110 yards and a touchdown on his 8-of-11 passing effort and also completed four two-point conversion passes to senior wideout Maxx Bell as coach Dave Sterling’s Red Eddes amassed 314 yards of total offense.
“We really have to balance it out because you can’t have one without the other,” said Begos of an EL offense that finished with 203 rushing yards on 34 carries to go with Hartley’s passing output. “Definitely when the pass game’s going, I get going and we just get rolling.”
Bangor, which played without starting quarterback Luke Tuell, who was injured during the Rams’ preseason game against Brewer a week earlier, managed just 56 total yards against an aggressive EL defense.
Edward Little, coming off a Class A North playoff berth last season, lost ground the first two times it touched the ball with minus-9 yards after receiving the game’s opening kickoff followed by an illegal procedure penalty on first down.
But the Red Eddies steadily moved forward from there in building its 38-0 halftime lead.
Known for its spread offense, Edward Little mixed the pass and run before intermission with Begos rushing for 110 yards and three touchdowns on 15 first-half carries and Hartley completing 7 of 10 passes for another 100 yards.
EL regrouped after its first two touches to drive 82 yards in seven plays to take an 8-0 lead on Begos’ 1-yard run up the middle with 9:17 left in the opening quarter. A pass by Hartley to Bell in the right flat went for a 53-yard gain to the Bangor 28 to set up the score.
An ensuing short kickoff was recovered by EL’s Robert Tremaine at the Bangor 32, setting up a 3-yard TD run by Begos to make it 14-0 less than five minutes into the game.
The Red Eddies’ Dawson Tracey recovered a Bangor fumble near midfield later in the period, and Hartley completed passes of 6 and 19 yards to Bell before scoring from 5 yards out to extend the EL lead to 22-0 at the end of the opening quarter.
A sack of Bangor’s punter gave the Red Eddies possession inside the Rams’ 15 less than two minutes into the second quarter. Begos took a pitch from Hartley one play later and ran wide right 14 yards for his third touchdown of the night to give his team a 30-0 cushion with 9:36 left in the first half.
Hartley added a 7-yard touchdown pass to senior wideout Xzabier Weaver with 2:24 remaining in the second quarter, and Begos scored the lone touchdown of the second half on a 15-yard run with 3:10 left in the third period.
Sophomore fullback Ezra Hamer-Nagle paced Bangor with 35 rushing yards on seven attempts, while junior quarterback Zach Milliken had a 25-yard pass completion to Ryan McCauley.
“This was a very good game to get settled in for the season,” said Hartley. “I thought Bangor played a lot better than what the score said. Obviously they didn’t have their quarterback tonight, but we can take from this some good film.
“We weren’t perfect tonight, for sure, but this is a good stepping stone for next week.”
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