Mt. Blue’s Abram Meader keeps an eye on Brunswick’s Aiden Glover as he run down the field with the ball during Saturday night’s football game in Brunswick Mt. Blue’s Caleb Haines comes in from the left for the play.

BRUNSWICK — The game slipped away from the Mt. Blue Cougars by inches Friday night.

Mt. Blue was stopped shot twice inside the Brunswick 5-yard line before the Dragons, who were led by Dalton Dickey’s vanishing acts every time he got the ball, made off with a 38-22 victory in a Pine Tree Conference matchup.

It was the Dragons’ first win of the season, and came at a crucial point in the season when both teams were looking to sew up a playoff spot.

The Cougars engineered a brilliant, clock-eating, in-your-face ground assault on the opening drive of the game that started from their 37 and ended inches away from the goal line.

Abram Meader led the charge most of the way to the goal line. With a fourth-and-inches situation, quarterback Noah Bell tried to score on his keeper but was shoved back by Brunswick’s adamant defense.

“Certainly, our inside run game is something that we continue to build and work, amd at times it is just a matchup thing and we are continuing to get better in that regard,” Mt. Blue coach Nate Quirion said. “Getting turned away on the goal line, it is hard to recover from and we battled hard.

“When we play a good football game, they are a lot better than their record indicates, they had a tough schedule and are well coached, but we have to take advantage of our opportunities.”

With momentum on their side, the Dragons punched in two back-to-back touchdowns by Dickey, who came across with 20- and 5-yard rushes, to give the Dragons a 12-0 lead after the kick and conversion failed.

“(Dickey) has been good all season long,” Brunswick coach Dan Cooper said. “He is kind of like a Swiss Army knife for us.

“He plays a little fullback, a little tail wing. He is even a back-up quarterback so he is a Jack-of-all-trades. We really leaned on him tonight and he came through.

“I thought they (Cougars) were scrappy. They came down to play hard and we had a hard time stopping them. Kudos to them.

“We were very good offensively tonight. We bent a little bit, but we didn’t break (on defense). We forced them to not put together long drives. For the most part, they were able to, but….”

The Cougars finally answered with a touchdown on a 35-yard rush in the second quarter. Reed Wells split the posts and Mt. Blue was in striking distance.

But Brunswick came right back at the Cougars and scored on a long drive. Jack Harvey spilled in from the 1-yard line and the conversion failed, but the Dragons were ahead 18-7.

Mt. Blue scored one more time when Reed booted an 18-yard field goal from the 8 and it was now an 18-10 game going into halftime.

The action didn’t slow down in the third quarter, either.

The Dragons’ fury grew stronger on another long drive where junior Nate Girardin scored on a 5-yard keeper.

Mt. Blue responded with a Meader touchdown from the 3-yard line on the next possession.

But Dickey cut loose again and scored his third of four touchdowns when he bolted from the 33-yard line for a 67-yard TD.

The Cougars answered with a touchdown when Bell connected with Levi Hiltz with a 12-yard TD reception.

Dickey topped off Brunswick’s comfortable lead when he hustled into the end zone from the 1 for his fourth touchdown of the night.

Brunswick’s Dalton Dickey receives a tackle from Mt. Blue’s Ethan Andrews during Saturday night’s football game in Brunswick.Brunswick’s Nate Girardin runs with the ball as Mt. Blue’s Jared Brown comes in to tackle him during Saturday night’s football game in Brunswick.Mt. Blue’s Ethan Andrews faces Brunswick’s Noah Goddard during Saturday night’s football game in Brunswick.Mt. Blue’s Noah Bell jukes to the side as he runs down the field during Saturday night’s football game in Brunswick.Mt. Blues’ Abram Meader runs down the field with the ball for a touchdown during Saturday night’s football game in Brunswick.