KENNEBUNK — For the third straight meeting, the Kennebunk football team beat Marshwood by stopping a 2-point conversion.

This time it mattered even more. Friday’s 29-27 win came in the Class B South semifinals and kept alive hopes of a repeat state championship for the undefeated Rams.

“That’s what happens when we play these guys,” said Kennebunk’s second-year head coach Keith Noel, who is now 3-0 against Marshwood. “It’s back and forth, back and forth and it comes down to the wire.”

No. 1 Kennebunk (9-0) had the ball first in overtime and scored on a 2-yard run by Brady Stone. The Rams lined up for a 2-point play and, helped by an offside penalty by Marshwood, got it with a sneak by senior quarterback Sam Haley.

“I had faith. I knew we would pull it out in the end,” Haley said. “Coach looked at me and was like, ‘Do you want it?’ Hell, yeah. I trust Kaden (Stevens), our center; I knew, they all had my back.”

Stevens said he wasn’t surprised that Noel opted to go for a 2-point conversion.

“If we make one and then if they get the two, by any chance, we lose. So I feel you have to go big or go home. You’ve got to leave everything out there,” Stevens said. “I got a good push on the guy to my right and I looked over to my left and saw No. 3 right next to me, and Sam was in the end zone.”

Kennebunk still needed to stop Marshwood – something it had not done well while giving up a 21-7 fourth-quarter lead.

Marshwood got its overtime touchdown on a zipped third-down pass from Tyler Hussey to Mason Poitras in the back of the end zone. But on a designed quarterback run to the left for the conversion, Kennebunk’s defense converged on Hussey and took him down 2 yards short of the goal line.

“We had a kid turn (Hussey) inside and a kid come over the top and made the play,” Noel said.

Over the last two seasons, Kennebunk has beaten Marshwood three times by five total points. In its other 14 games against Class B opponents, all wins, the Rams have a 527-141 scoring margin.

Kennebunk’s 37-35 overtime win in the regular season followed the same extra-session scenario of Kennebunk scoring first and then going for a 2-point conversion. In the 2023 regular season, Marshwood rallied from a 22-point fourth-quarter deficit before losing 41-40 as it failed to convert a 2-point play with seconds left.

Marshwood finished 5-5 for the second consecutive season. Kennebunk, winners of 13 straight games, will host No. 2 Deering (8-1) in the regional final. Kennebunk beat Deering, 41-0, on Oct. 5.

There were multiple points in Friday’s game when Kennebunk appeared ready to end the drama and take a convincing win.

Kennebunk took a 7-0 lead on a 17-yard run by Stone (21 carries, 103 yards) less than three minutes into the game. After another three-and-out and a short punt by Marshwood, Kennebunk quickly reached the 5. Marshwood, though, stuffed three runs and then batted down a Haley pass intended for top target Max Andrews.

Marshwood then went on a grinding 14-play, 95-yard drive that Hussey finished with a 6-yard run and extra point. The 7-7 tie held until halftime, thanks to another defensive stand that featured three pass breakups in man coverage by freshman cornerback Noah Goodwin while defending Andrews.

But one play into the fourth quarter, Kennebunk was ahead 21-7. Ethan Burr finished the Rams’ first drive of the second half with a 13-yard score on an inside counter. Moose Keys went 21 yards on a similar play to cap the next drive, with Andrews adding extra points both times.

“We could have easily packed it in in the first quarter,” said Marshwood Coach Alex Rotsko. “We hung in. We could have quit then. We could have quit just before halftime. Nothing but, just happy for these guys. Happy for the effort they put in all year.”

Marshwood rallied behind the play of Hussey (14 of 20, 122 yards), who completed 11 of 14 fourth-quarter passes. Three short completions overcame second-and-17 to keep the drive moving, setting up Cody Bubier’s 1-yard TD run. Marshwood tried for 2, but the run was ruled just short.

A sack of Haley by Ryan Essex forced a Kennebunk punt with just over two minutes to play. Hussey was hit after throwing his fifth straight completion on the drive and had to leave the game with the ball at the Rams 29 and 1:12 to play. Michael Sbrizza came on, and after an 8-yard run by Bubier, Sbrizza got the first down with a completion to Caden Rose.

Hussey returned after missing three plays and completed a pass to Greg Castoras (seven catches, 52 yards) for a 13-yard touchdown and then found Rose for the tying conversion pass.

“They’re a great team and we battled with them every game, just as we did tonight,” Hussey said. “It sucks. But we battled. You have to look at the bright side, I guess.”