John Stark football holds on for narrow win over Bow

BOW - The John Stark Regional High School football team has had a knack for the dramatic this season, and Saturday's game against Bow was no different.

The Generals got strong defensive performance and just enough offense - and just enough points - to pull out a 7-6 win over the Falcons in a Division II North Conference game.

Jack Baumann scored on a 23-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter, and had a key interception at the end of the first half to keep it a one-score game, and John Stark (6-1) found a way to win and likely clinch a playoff spot.

"I’m not sure what it is with us, but we play steady with everybody," John Stark coach Rod McQuarrie said. "We’re not a blowout-type of team. (The defense) has kept us in every game all season. The size of our line, they’re big, physical and they’re fast. Those guys can move."

While Bow (5-2) held an edge in yards, 222-192, the Falcons turned the ball over on downs four times in John Stark territory and quarterback Matt Harkins was picked off twice on the Generals side of the field, including Baumann's interception.

Baumann finished with three catches for 80 yards and the touchdown, while Parker McQuarrie was just 5 of 18 for 97 yards and Jacob Cole had 72 yards rushing.

Ben Kimball led the Bow offense with 79 total yards while Tanner Cammett’s 7-yard touchdown run in the second quarter was the only scoring for the Falcons, who missed the extra point.

“I said I hope that doesn’t hurt us later in the game, and literally that was the difference,” Bow coach Paul Cohen said. “Having said that, we had multiple opportunities. Our defense did a great job and we were able to move things along, but we were way too inconsistent.”

It looked like the Falcons were going to add to their 6-0 led when McQuarrie was sacked close to his own goal line. Officials determined his forward progress was stopped at the 2-yard line, forcing the Generals to punt from the back of the end zone.

The kick was nearly blocked and Bow took over at the John Stark 30-yard line with 50 seconds left in the half. But on the next play, Baumann stepped in front of a Bow receiver and picked off a pass from Harkins.

"They’re going in to score, that would have been huge," Rod McQuarrie said. "That would put us in quite a hole. It was a big play and I thought we were going to need some big plays."

Everything started clicking for the Generals after Baumann’s interception. John Stark moved into Bow territory but ran out of time at the end of the half, and the defense forced a three-and-out to open the third quarter.

Although the Generals were forced to punt, they kept field position in their favor and a big punt return by Cole set them up at Bow’s 35 to start the touchdown drive.

Cole ran twice for 12 yards to set up Baumann’s catch-and-run for the touchdown.

“I just ran a simple slant route and I got a pick on one of the corner backs,” he said. “I broke open and it seemed to work out. That’s all I had in my mind, that I need to score this right now.”

Bow answered the touchdown with a 13-play drive, converting a third and a fourth down on the drive, but on fourth-and-8 at John Stark's 34, Harkins was intercepted by Jacob Ridenour with 10:24 left in the game.

The Generals put together a drive of their own, using up almost seven minutes and running 13 plays to move down to the 8-yard line. But the offense stalled and Bow got one more chance with 3:46 remaining.

The Falcons went on an 18-play drive, picking up two fourth downs, but on a fourth-and-8 from the Generals 26-yard line, Harkins pass to Jack Corriveau fell incomplete.

"It was very big," McQuarrie said of the win. "Offensively, we did some very good things. I thought we moved the ball well at times. Our running game got rolling, which we haven’t done much all season, so that was huge."