BATH — After a 38-0 loss to the Morse Shipbuilders from Bath just a week earlier, the Mount Desert Island Trojans knew they were going to have to bring their best game if they were to stand a chance against them in Friday’s Pine Tree Conference football quarterfinal.

And despite a score of 35-15 in Morse’s favor when the game ended, the Shipbuilders knew they had played a completely different Trojan team.

The game began with the pendulum swinging in the Trojans’ favor when the Shipbuilders’ kick returner dropped the ball and fell on it on the Morse five-yard line.

The Shipbuilders then went three and out, and the short punt hit the Trojan receiver in the chest and bounced forward five yards where the Trojans recovered at the Morse 35-yard line. Two plays later, MDI had an 8-0 lead after Chase Bickford raced 22 yards for a touchdown and Duncan Smith rushed for the two extra points.

But three plays after the kickoff, Morse quarterback Michael Walton busted through the middle at the line of scrimmage and ran for a 50-yard touchdown with 8:19 left in the first quarter. With two extra points on a rush by Pat Wolfe, the score was tied at 8-8.

The Trojans methodically marched down the field on a drive that included two fourth-down conversions and ultimately scored on a run up the middle by Nat Hinckley. With the extra point kick from Oliver Prior going through the uprights, MDI held a 15-8 lead with 11:56 left in the half.

Morse then put Wolfe, the team’s ace running back, to work and with 9:11 left in the half, he found a hole in the middle of the MDI line and ran 31 yards for another Morse touchdown. The extra point was good and the game was tied at 15-15.

But it was pretty much all Morse the rest of the way. With the ball back in the Shipbuilders’ hands after three and out for the Trojans, Walton rolled right looking to pass and, finding no one open, ran 31 yards for the touchdown to give Morse a 22-15 lead.

MDI again was forced to punt on its next series of downs, and Morse took over at the MDI 32-yard line.

The Shipbuilders quickly capitalized when Everett Moye hauled in a 32-yard pass from Walton for another TD with 2:33 remaining in the half.

The Shipbuilders capped their scoring in the third period when Moye pulled in another pass from Walton from 10 yards for another touchdown.

“We told the kids that this game had nothing to do with Morse High School,” said MDI coach Mark Shields. “It had nothing to do with the scoreboard. It had to do with going down to Bath, playing good football and leaving the field with our heads held high. I believe we did that.”

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