Washington Academy held off a furious Boothbay second-half rally Oct. 3 to claim a 26-18 Maine 8-man high school football victory at Sherman Field. Washington Academy plays in the state's Northern 8-man football conference and traveled down U.S. Route One South from East Machias to play this intra-conference contest.

The Raiders (2-2) used a power running game and opportunistic defense in their victory. WA improves to 2-2. Boothbay drops to 1-4. "It was a competitive game and we made a lot of big plays, but had a lot of bad plays, too," Boothbay coach Ed Crocker said. " You just can't win playing this type of competition by constantly shooting yourself in the foot. We just made too many mistakes."

Boothbay started out strong scoring the game's first touchdown. Quarterback Shawn Gamage scored on a three-yard run with 9:12 remaining in the first quarter. Boothbay's 6-0 lead lasted until Raider quarterback Emilio Coelho scored on a 7-yard draw play with 2:45 remaining in the quarter giving WA a 7-6 lead.

WA defensive back Luis Rossa ended two Boothbay drives with interceptions. The second pick ended a potential score in the third quarter. Gamage avoided a big Raider pass rush, but his pass was batted at the line of scrimmage, and a second time, in the end zone, before Rosa corralled it.

WA built its largest lead late in the third quarter when Coelho, who rushed for two touchdowns, connected with Henry Ferguson on an 80-yard touchdown pass. With WA leading 19-6, Boothbay scored on a 16-play scoring drive which was aided by a Raider roughing the passer penalty on a fourth-and-19 play. Boothbay scored three plays later on a Gamage rush.

With Boothbay trailing 19-12, defensive back Isaac Fanslau scored on a 40-yard interception return trimming the lead to one. On the play, the Boothbay pass rush moved Raider quarterback Coelho left. Fanslau was one of two Boothbay defenders who moved Coelho out of the pocket. Coelho moved left to avoid the pass rush and backward to avoid Fanslau and another pass rusher. 

As Coelho began his throwing motion, the ball slipped out of his hand. Fanslau caught it, and ran for paydirt. The Raiders sealed their victory in the fourth quarter when fullback Hayden Melvin ran 41 yards for a touchdown. 

Boothbay has a bye this weekend. On Oct. 18, Boothbay travels to Fort Kent for a 1 p.m. contest versus Valley, a cooperative team of Aroostook County high schools: Fort Kent, Madawaska and Wisdom.