By Stephen Ham
Special to the Leader
The underdog Scarborough Red Storm gave the heavily favored Massabesic Mustangs a good fight before falling 34-21, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in a game postponed from the night before due to a major rain storm.
The first quarter began auspiciously for the Mustangs when their star quarterback Jeff Elliott fumbled on their first offensive possession and Storm lineman, Brian Woodbury, jumped on the ball to give Scarborough a huge opportunity from the Massabesic 20-yard line.
Scarborough quarterback Max Erwin quickly hit end Jon Bendle for 10 yards, then went to Kenny Mancuso who nearly scored. Stopped on the 1-foot line, the Storm elected to run and the ball was knocked loose and recovered at the 1 by Massabesic.
The home-town team, which looked sluggish at times on offense, ran into a buzz saw trying to move the ball on the ground. Storm linemen Logan Oliver, Brian Woodbury, and Peter Tuma harassed Elliott continuously, and Massabesic was forced to punt. After a short punt and good runback by Mancuso, Scarborough found itself with the ball once again at the Mustang 20 with a second opportunity to score.  Trouble came knocking yet again in the form of an interception by safety Pat McCarthy, ending the scoring chance.
On Massabesic’s first play from scrimmage, the ball was knocked loose from halfback, Joey Eon’s hands, and opportunistic defensive back, Matt Duquette, came up with the ball at the Mustang 19 for Scarborough.
The third turnover of the quarter proved to be the charm for Scarborough, as Erwin hit Bendle on a nice pass at the 1, and Mancuso then powered over for the day’s first score. After Logan Oliver’s point-after-touchdown, the Red Storm held the lead over the once beaten Mustangs, 7-0.
Massabesic again struggled on offense and traded possessions with Scarborough, before finally getting the break they were looking for. Punting from deep in their own territory, Scarborough let Jeff Elliott get some running room at the 40, and with the help of a possible clip that was missed by the officials, Elliott outran the coverage for the score. They went for the 2-point conversion which missed, leaving the score 7-6 as the first quarter ended.
On the ensuing kickoff, Massabesic caught the Red Storm napping with a well executed on-side kick, and recovered the ball at the Scarborough 40. Elliott went to Eon repeatedly and marched the ball to the 12-yard line, where he called his own number and scooted into the end zone for the Mustangs second score in 2 minutes. Eon converted the 2-point conversion and the score was now 14-7 Massabesic.
Scarborough had success moving the ball at times, but was unable to put a sustained drive together, a season-long problem. It looked like the half would end at 14-7, with the Red Storm at midfield, but a hard hit on Erwin by Donny Morse on a safety blitz, knocked the ball loose. Both teams seemed to look at the loose ball for a second before Nolan Rollins picked it up and ran 50 yards for a touchdown as the stunned Scarborough team watched. For the third time this season, an improbable set of events led to a score by the opposition as time expired in the half.
The third quarter featured the debut at quarterback of Scarborough sophomore Billy Wahrer, when Max Erwin sustained an injury at the end of the first half. Wahrer did a great job of moving the team with halfback runs by Mancuso and keepers, but was unable to get past midfield.
Massabesic, meanwhile, was still having difficulties on offense. Elliott, normally a top passing quarterback, was stymied by the Scarborough secondary, and threw a ball into the end zone that was tipped by Jon Bendle and intercepted by Garrett Alofs.
Entering the fourth quarter it was still anybody’s game, when Elliott decided to take matters into his own hands with a 36-yard run to paydirt.
With the score 28-7 in favor of the Mustangs, the Red Storm decided to change things up a bit. Erwin returned at quarterback and on his first play, ran a halfback option to Mancuso. Mancuso looked downfield to a streaking Brendan Ham, but with great coverage, decided to run, and while fighting for extra yards, fumbled, and Massabesic recovered.
Oliver made another of several great defensive plays by sacking Elliott, and the Mustangs were forced to punt. Mancuso returned the punt, but fumbled and Massabesic again recovered.
Oliver made one more sack of Elliott, before Tom Pogar came up with a great interception of an Elliott pass at midfield, and returned it to the Massabesic 40. Erwin hit Peter Tuma and Mancuso with passes to bring the Storm to the one, and Mancuso ran it in for his second score.
Massabesic got one more score from Joey Eon on a 30-yard run to make the score 34-14. The scoring was closed following a Scarborough fumble, and then a final Mustang fumble. Mancuso picked up the ball at the 40 and ran it in for his third touchdown of the afternoon, ending the scoring at 34-21.
Massabesic moves to 6-1, and Scarborough falls to 2-5 with the loss. Scarborough plays it’s final regular season game at home tonight at 7 p.m. against a 3-4 Kennebunk team. Tonight’s game will have both teams in top form, as there is still an opportunity for both Scarborough and Kennebunk to make the playoffs with a win.