The University of Maine’s football team had a second-half comeback that reduced a 21-point deficit to six.
But an interception by Trevon Booker with 2:02 remaining enabled Campbell University to hold off the Black Bears 34-28 in a Coastal Athletic Association game on Homecoming Day at Barker-Lane Stadium in Buies Creek, North Carolina on Saturday afternoon.
Campbell, in its first season in the CAA, improved to 4-3 overall and 3-2 in the CAA while UMaine fell to 2-6 and 1-4.
The Camels spotted UMaine a game-opening touchdown before responding with 28 unanswered points to take a 28-7 lead into the intermission.
Campbell turned two UMaine turnovers into touchdowns in the opening half.
UMaine senior quarterback Derek Robertson, whose 36 completions and 503 passing yards on the afternoon were career-highs, opened the second half by throwing a 26-yard touchdown pass to Jamie Lamson to cut the lead to 28-14.
But the Camels answered as Hajj-Malik Williams tossed a 33-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Kelsey with 3:09 left in the third period to make it 34-14. The Camels had the extra point kick blocked.
But Robertson and sophomore tight end Rohan Jones hooked up on a pair of fourth-quarter TD passes to pull the Black Bears within six.
Robertson threw a 33-yarder to Jones just seven seconds into the fourth period and an 18-yarder to him with 6:12 remaining.
Following a Campbell punt, UMaine took possession at its own 14-yard line with 2:51 remaining.
A 10-yard pass from Robertson to Lamson picked up a first down at the UM-24 but, on second-and-10, Booker made his interception to sew up the win.
Robertson’s 36 completions came on 52 passes and four went for touchdowns. Over his last four games, he has now thrown 14 TD passes and completed 99 of 139 passes for 1,447 yards. He has been picked off four times.
Joe Gillette caught six passes for 135 yards and extended his streak of games with at least 100 receiving yards to three. Montigo Moss also caught six passes for 53 yards while Lamson and Tavion Banks each had five receptions for 71 and 56 yards, respectively.
Lamson had two TD catches as did Jones.
UMaine managed just six net rushing yards.
Williams, who came into the game as the second most accurate passer in the Football Championship Subdivision with a 74.2 percent completion rate, completed 26 of 33 passes for 242 yards and two TDs. V.J. Wilkins caught eight passes for 79 yards and Chaney Fitzgerald had five grabs for 46 yards.
Lamagea McDowell rushed for 114 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries.
The game couldn’t have started better for UMaine as the Black Bears forced Campbell to punt on its first possession and then marched 80 yards on seven plays to take a 7-0 lead as Robertson threw an 11-yard TD pass to Lamson.
But Campbell answered on its next possession as McDowell’s one-yard TD run finished off an 11-play, 65-yard drive.
UMaine moved the ball from its own 20 yard line to Campbell’s 20 but C.J. Tillman forced a Brian Santana-Fis fumble and it was recovered by teammate Ethan Quarsie.
The Camels took full advantage of the turnover as a five-yard pass from Williams to Jasiah Provillon capped a 13-play, 81-yard drive to give Campbell the lead for good.
UMaine went three-and-out on its next possession and a short Aidan Cadogan punt was returned 19 yards by Brandon Fitez to the UMaine-48 yard line.
Williams threw a 38-yard pass to Fitzgerald and that set up McDowell’s seven-yard touchdown run to make it 21-7 with 9:16 left in the half.
Following the Campbell kickoff, UMaine picked up 34 yards on two plays but on second-and-three at the Campbell-41, a Robertson pass went off the hands of Moss and it was intercepted by Campbell’s Tyquez Royal.
The Camels strung together a five-play, 72-yard drive that culminated in Chris McKay’ Jr.’s five-yard run with 5:07 remaining.
UMaine again moved the ball into Campbell territory but a fourth-and-three pass at the Camels’ seven-yard line with 26 seconds left fell incomplete.
Campbell linebacker Tillman and UMaine cornerback Kahzir ‘Buggs’ Brown shared game-high honors with 10 tackles apiece. Safeties Damon Matthews and Abdul Stewart each had eight tackles for UMaine.
UMaine will return to Orono and host Albany next Saturday at 1 p.m. while Campbell will visit Richmond for a 3:30 game.
