Anderson, McClure lead way in Maine

BELFAST, Maine – The Cumberland High cross-country teams turned in strong showings at the 16th annual Maine Festival of Champions, held on Saturday. From an individual standpoint Burrillville junior Andrew McClure was the area’s top finisher. He came in 17th in the boys’ race (16:19).

The CHS girls racked up 240 points en route to a third-place finish out of a field featuring 62 teams. Adah Anderson set the pace with a 12th place finish (19:09) followed by Grace Henson (22nd, 19:33). In the event’s freshman race, Olivia Belt and Bailee Brown placed seventh and eighth, respective- ly. Belt clocked in at 19:52 while Brown finished the course in 19:53.

Burrillville’s top female finisher was senior Sabrina Charron (20:27).

The Cumberland boys came in 13th with 460 points in the team standings. The boys race featured 68 teams and 933 finishers.

Scoring for the Clippers were Nate Rogers (51st, 17:00), Owen Molis (59th,17:08), Dan Collard (67th, 17:13), Brendan Johnson (149th, 18:06), Evan Marcet (205th, 18:27), and Keith Sisson (209th, 18:28).

Also locally, Lincoln senior Evan Thompson came in 47th in the boys race (16:57).

PROVIDENCE — Jim Fleming had endured 33 losses in his tenure as URI football head coach prior to Saturday night’s game against Brown. His normal demeanor after those defeats was fiery and he always insisted team was on the path to winning.

A 24-21 loss in the 36th Governor’s Cup seemed to bring about a different post-loss Fleming. His voice barely rising above the din of the Brown media room, the beleaguered coach seemed despondent after his team squandered a 14-3 halftime lead.

“Hats off to Brown, they had a good second half,” he said, slunk into his chair. “We had plenty of opportunities, the way I saw it in the first half. Millions of opportunities and we didn’t take advantage of them at times. Came out second half, didn’t play extremely well.”

Brown put up 225 yards of offense in the third quarter alone - five more than URI had for the entire game at that point - and scored three touchdowns in a nine-minute span to take a 24-14 lead.

The second-half Brown blitzkrieg came on the back of freshman runner Darius Daies. The St. Louis product hadn’t didn’t carry the ball in the first two games of the season, but on Saturday he scored two third-quarter touchdowns and finished with 98 rushing yards.

“I came in as a freshman the first couple weeks, so I wasn’t expecting to get in the game or get a bunch of carries,” said Daies. “Tonight, whenever coach called my number, I just tried to settle down and settle in as much as I could.”

“We found on offense, a young man named Darius Daies,” Brown coach Phil Estes said. “He had really performed well this week [in practice]. He became our secret weapon and did a great job. Darius never let the game get bigger than himself.”

Prior to Brown’s discovery of the up-and-coming tailback, URI worked themselves into a strong position thanks to Brown mistakes. Justin Hogan forced a fumble on a first-quarter punt, and Momodou Mbye fell on the loose ball at the URI 46-yard line.

Harold Cooper scored the game’s first points one play later, breaking a 54-yard run to the left, effortlessly speeding by the Brown secondary to put the Rams up 7-0.

Brown rounded out the first-quarter scoring with a field goal, but another Bears turnover turned into seven URI points late in the second.

L.B. Mack III sacked Thomas Linta on Brown’s enusing drive, forcing the ball out while he brought down the quarterback. The ball lingered on the ground for quite a few seconds, but eventually Mike Ezirike collected the fumble and gave the Rams a short field of 14 yards.

Penalties sent URI immediately moving in the wrong direction, but a 19-yard pass by Tyler Harris found Khayri Denny wide open in the end zone, and had the Rams out ahead by two scores headed into the half.

“Both their touchdowns in the first half were off our turnovers,” said Estes. “I said at halftime, ‘have you figured out we can play with these guys?’ Stop putting them on a pedestal.”

Daies ran the ball three times on the Bears last drive of the first half, and worked his way through the URI defense for 17 yards. Estes stuck with the freshman after the break, and was rewarded with touchdown sprints of seven and 22 yards.

“Yeah, the Darius adjustment was really good,” said Estes. “We saw some schemes that we could do with Darius. Went back to some of the basic stuff we’re trying to do. It was just a zone read play with a pass option off it. We were able to hit the pass a couple times [which opened up room for Darius].”

Just as they did in their loss last week to UNH, the Rams managed a comeback bid after falling behind by double digits. Harris, who finished with career-highs in completions, attempts and yards, led a five-play, 1:24 fourth quarter drive that culminated in an Aaron Parker touchdown catch, and a 24-21 deficit.

“He’s a very good playmaker,” Harris said of Parker. “We have a whole stable of wide receivers that can catch the ball. Makes my job easy when those guys are out there running routes.”

Parker has now tied the URI record for consecutive games with a touch- down reception, matching Bobby Apgar’s mark of seven. The sophomore wideout also finished the game with 100-plus receiving yards for the third straight game.

“Gotta look at the tape to see how efficient we really were,” in the passing game, said Fleming. “We came out humming it on the last touchdown drive we had. We had three opportunities to catch balls on the last drive and we didn’t.”

Harris moved the offense into Brown territory on the very next drive, but after a failed third-down conversion, C.J. Carrick missed a 39-yard field goal to the left. URI was 2-for-15 on third downs, while Brown was an only slightly better 4-for-17.

Parker had a key drop on the Rams’ final offensive possession, which ended in a turnover on downs. The URI defense appeared to have stopped the Brown offense with 1:36 remaining, but a pass interference call allowed the Bears to run out the clock and reclaim the Governor’s Cup.

“Fought back into it, had a shot,” said Fleming. “Couldn’t execute on the last drive, and missed the tying field goal.”

Carrick missed what would’ve been a game-winner at Central Michigan, and is now 2-4 on field goal attempts longer than 30 yards.

“Third-down conversions is - once again - a problem,” Fleming said. “There’s a lot to look at. Good football game.”

The Rams are now 1-4, and have converted 31.6 percent of their thirddown chances. URI is on bye next week before a road game on Oct. 14 against Maine (1-2 overall, 0-2 CAA).

Brown takes home their second win of the year, and their 19th Governor’s Cup since the trophy was first awarded in 1981.

“Loved it,” Estes said. “Something about the Governor’s Cup that brings out the best in Brown football. We were listening to what people said we were instead of figuring out what we are. Too many people had already put a label on us.

“I knew we were going to get that cup back. I’m serious, I knew these guys were going to play. There’s been so much hype put on Rhody and how improved they are - and they are improved - but they were 1-3.”