Maine makes its point...

... and UMass doesn't in loss

AMHERST - For the University of Maine, yesterday's 21-20 victory over the University of Massachusetts was a delicious example of poetic justice, of the fair play that comes with turnabout, of the payback for which it long had an itch.

For UMass, it was an excruciating case of seeing how the other half lives.

Eerily, almost spookily, yesterday marked the third straight game the teams have played in Amherst that has been decided by the narrowest possible margin after the late miss of an extra point. This was the first of the three in which Maine proved triumphant.

"That seems to be the theme lately for the games here," said jubilant Maine coach Jack Cosgrove. "I'm not in charge of that. I think the Big Guy is in charge of that."

After Maine had taken a 21-14 lead with 11:59 remaining on a 3-yard run by Jared Turcotte and a PAT by Jordan Waxman, UMass answered immediately. The Minutemen needed just one play to reach the end zone, a 58-yard pass from Liam Coen to Jeremy Horne.

But in a driving rain, the exchange from long snapper Travis Tripucka to holder Scott Woodward seemed to be a split second off from precision. Woodward got the ball down, but kicker Armando Cuko slowed ever so slightly in his approach. His slow-moving, high-arcing kick caromed off the right upright and back into the end zone to leave the score at 21-20. Cuko had made his first 38 PATs of the season.

"I know they've come down here a couple of times and been snakebitten by the extra point," said UMass coach Don Brown. "Today it was our turn."

The first snakebite came in 2004, when UMass posted a 35-34 victory in overtime on a blocked PAT. The second took place in 2006, when UMass won, 10-9, after Devin McNeill's PAT curled wide with 1:44 remaining.

Yesterday's turning of the tables was particularly galling for UMass because it likely spells the end of the Minutemen's playoff hopes. With a 6-4 record (3-3 in the Colonial Athletic Association), UMass would have to win its final two games and pray for a huge amount of help from other teams and the most favorable Ouija board possible on selection day.

"We knew this was pretty much a playoff game for us," acknowledged free safety Jeromy Miles, who kept UMass in contention with a whopping 19 tackles.

For the 7-3 (4-2) Black Bears, the victory keeps hope alive in a season that has taken a startling turn for the better. At 2-3 and playing at Delaware, Maine lost starting quarterback Adam Farkes for the season with an injury. In came junior Michael Brusko, who rallied Maine to that victory, and now four more in a row.

"It's a feeling that I don't think many of us - or any of us - have felt since we've been here," said Brusko, who completed 5 of 7 passes yesterday for 45 yards. "We know that it's down to a two-game season now, and we control our destiny."

That control comes in large part because of a punishing ground game that piled up 296 yards against UMass. Four backs were equally effective: Turcotte (83 yards with a touchdown), Derek Session (76 yards with a TD), Jhamal Fluellen (74 yards with a TD), and Pushaun Brown (52 yards). Each one ripped off a run of at least 15 yards.

The Black Bears also made Coen's 23d birthday anything but happy, pressuring the UMass senior all afternoon. Coen completed 15 of 33 passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns, but he threw four interceptions.

Maine controlled the ball throughout the first half, and finished off two drives for a 14-0 lead that put UMass on its heels.

The Minutemen got off the mat in the third quarter, tying it on a 5-yard Coen pass to Ian Jorgensen and a 3-yard run by Chris Zardas.

That set up the Twilight Zone sequence in the fourth that left Maine with a 21-20 lead. There was plenty of game left, but UMass couldn't capitalize.

Maine came up with a trio of interceptions by Andrew Downey, Lamir Whetstone (his second of the game), and then - on a final play Hail Mary - Norman Smith.

"I saw a lot of red jerseys [on the final play]," said Coen. "A lot of teams had won like that this season. There's hope, hope, hope - but we shouldn't have been in that situation."

Coen had a point, and UMass, on this gray afternoon, did not.