OLD ORCHARD BEACH — The postgame handshakes completed, the teams walking to their respective ends of Joe Regina Field, the home fans chanting players´ names, Curt Chretien, an assistant football coach at Old Orchard Beach High, walked toward the Seagulls´ huddle and uttered one word: "Heart."

Whatever it is you want to call it, Old Orchard Beach had it at the end of its Western Class C quarterfinal game, surviving a last-minute Oak Hill drive to win 16-12 on an end-zone interception by Andrew Thayer with about 12 seconds remaining.

"I´d be lying to you if I said I didn´t have my doubts (on that final drive)," said Brandon Ouellette, a senior linebacker for the Seagulls. "But on a defense that starts nine seniors, a junior (Thayer) makes the biggest play of his life."

And the third-ranked Seagulls (7-2) will play another game, in the regional semifinals against No. 7 Yarmouth (7-2).

The Clippers advanced with a 35-28 win over No. 2 Livermore Falls (7-2).

Quarterback Dean Perrone scored both OOB touchdowns, on 1-yard plunges, and the Seagulls´ defense forced four fumbles in a hard-hitting game that at times left players from both teams struggling to get up from the turf.

"They got after us, we got after them," said Dean Plante, the head coach at Old Orchard Beach. "I thought we outlasted them. We don´t play too many kids. But we´ve got a lot of upperclassmen who are tough two-way players."

OOB led 8-6 at the half, but the sixth-seeded Raiders, who finished 4-5, came out flying in the third quarter, taking the lead in just 63 seconds. A facemask penalty on OOB on the kickoff gave Oak Hill great field position at its 46. Junior halfback Josh Allen gained 38 yards on first down. Two plays later, Allen -- who ran for 93 of his 114 yards in the second half -- sprinted in from the 15 for a touchdown. The conversion pass failed and Oak Hill led, 12-8.

The Raiders´ third fumble of the game, recovered by Joe Plasse at the OOB 20, led to the Seagulls´ go-ahead score, though it didn´t start that way. Three plays lost five yards and OOB lined up to punt.

But Perrone took the snap instead of the punter and passed 17 yards to Matt MacDowell -- who was injured on the play -- for the first down. "That´s an audible for us, the players read it and make the call," said Plante. "I looked down and didn´t even know we were doing it."

Slowly the Seagulls moved downfield, to a first-and-goal inside the 1. Perrone pushed forward, reached over the goal line with the ball and was stopped. Originally called no score, the officials changed the call to a touchdown with 51 seconds left in the third.

"I was in," said Perrone. "I reached over and broke the plane."

After Ouellette recovered Oak Hill´s fourth fumble, the Seagulls had a chance to put it away but turned the ball over on downs at the Oak Hill 29 with 1:25 remaining.

"No question the fumbles killed us," said Oak Hill Coach Dave Wing. "We played well enough to win, but didn´t."

With Brett Turcotte completing four passes for 80 yards, the Raiders were able to offset a 15-yard sack by OOB´s Jay Regis and get a first-and-goal at the 6 with 24 seconds left.

After two incompletions, Turcotte threw into the end zone to Dillon Tibbetts, who was hit as the ball arrived. The ball popped off him into the hands of Thayer, who ran it out to the 17.

"Good coverage, good stick," said Plante. "And we got the ball."

Staff Writer Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at:
mlowe@pressherald.com