The University of Maine’s football team had a forgettable season but gave a good account of itself in Saturday’s 42-41 overtime loss to Football Championship Subdivision playoff team and Colonial Athletic Association co-champion University of New Hampshire at Morse Field in Orono.
After Max Brosmer threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Lepowski on the first possession of overtime and Nick Mazzie kicked the extra point to give UNH a 42-35 lead, UMaine used a highlight-reel trick play to score on fourth-and-16.
But UMaine elected to go for two points for the win, and Joe Fagnano’s pass to Freddie Brock was behind him and fell incomplete.
The dazzling play that gave UMaine a chance to win was a short pass from Fagnano to Elijah Barnwell, who lateralled it to Montigo Moss.
Moss then threw the ball back across the field behind him to Rohan Jones, who dashed into the end zone.
UNH wound up the regular season at 8-3 and 7-1 in the conference while UMaine finished 2-9 and 2-6 after losing its fifth straight game.
It is only the second time in UMaine history that the Black Bears lost nine games. The other time was 1979.
UMaine trailed 28-14 in the third period after Dylan Laube raced 48 yards to give UNH its third 14-point lead of the game.
It took UMaine just 18 seconds to cut the lead to seven as Zavier Scott burst 75 yards down the right sideline, stiff-arming the last UNH defender, to reach the end zone.
The Black Bears tied it with a 10-play, 75-yard drive capped by quarterback Joe Fagnano’s 10-yard run around the left end with 14:23 left in the fourth quarter.
UNH regained the lead on Brosmer’s 6-yard pass to Adam Dese 3:11 later, but UMaine tied it again on Barnwell’s 2-yard run with 3:11 remaining, finishing off a 15-play, 75-yard drive.
Neither team scored again in regulation, which forced overtime.
New Hampshire scored on its first two possessions to take a 14–0 lead as Laube capped an 11-play, 88-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown run and Brosmer tossed a 33-yard TD pass to D.J. Linkins.
A UMaine holding penalty negated an Abdul Stewart interception on the second drive.
UMaine cut the lead in half on Barnwell’s 2-yard run following his 57-yard scamper with 3:14 left in the half.
A horsecollar penalty on UNH on a third-down play that didn’t pick up a first down extended UMaine’s drive, leading to the Barnwell TD.
However, it took UNH just 1:06 to answer as a 48-yard pass from Brosmer to Sean Coyne and an ensuing 15-yard penalty on UMaine set UNH up at the UMaine-15 and Laube dashed in for the score on the next play.
But the Black Bears rallied, putting together a 14-play, 86-yard drive culminating in a 1-yard TD run by Barnwell with 18 seconds left in the half.
UMaine overcame an illegal block in the back penalty that turned a 40-yard TD pass from Fagnano to Moss into just a 10-yard gain.
The penalty occurred after the catch by Moss.
A 14-yard run by Brock set UMaine up at the one-yard line and Barnwell took it in on the next play.
Brosmer completed 14 of 23 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns. Laube gained 190 yards on 30 carries to reach the 1,000-yard plateau for the season.
Fagnano completed 16 of 32 passes for 202 yards and a TD. Barnwell carried the ball 20 times for 143 yards, while Scott had nine carries for 108.
