The rain kept coming down. And Bonny Eagle kept making plays.

And if there was any doubt the Scots were going to take a legitimate stab at defending their Class A state football title, Friday’s convincing 16-0 blanking of Deering should dull much of that skepticism.

“We heard rumors they (Deering’s players) weren’t taking us seriously,” said Scot end Ben Delcourt. “But we knew this was a big game, and we made the big plays.”

Delcourt turned in at least a pair of those big plays himself.

His first was a fumble recovery, which stalled a Ram drive in Bonny Eagle territory in the first quarter. His second was a terrific catch, on maybe quarterback Mike O’Donnell’s best pass of the season. O’Donnell defied the downpour and tossed a picturesque spiral down the right sideline in the third quarter. Delcourt had his eyes on it all the way (the Deering defender didn’t) and hauled it in over his shoulder, then gave a shimmy to shake the defender’s grasp and sprinted into the end zone, a 68-yard play. The second extra point kick in as many tries for Erik Hanson capped the scoring for the night.

“I’ve been having trouble on those quick fades, trying to hold onto the ball” said O’Donnell after the game. “I’ve got small hands, so it was hard.”

But even on this chilly, rainy night, the Bonny Eagle running back-turned-quarterback improved his game.

Penalties and bad snaps still haunt the Scots, but Coach Kevin Cooper said his players are making great strides in that area.

“We’re getting there,” said the coach. “I think we’re rapidly improving in a lot of areas.”

There will be little room for error when the Scots travel to take on Gorham this Friday (7:30 p.m.), in what could be a rivalry for years to come. The Gorham Rams did lose a close barn-burner to Deering three weeks ago, but Bonny Eagle’s players will be making a giant mistake if they don’t take this first-year Class A team seriously.

Gorham’s double wing is rolling up just shy of 40 points a game and blanked South Portland 50-0 in the rain Saturday, resting most of the team’s starters during the second half.

“Gorham is going to be tough,” said Cooper.

How important is a regular season-ending win at Gorham?

“It means we’d be playing here (home field) some more,” said Delcourt.

A shutout over Deering hints the defense may be up to the tough task of stopping Gorham. Tackle Brett Cartwright made some big plays getting to the quarterback and Corey Byrnes scored the games’ first points when he dragged down Ram quarterback Nick Dunn in the end zone in first quarter for a 2-0 lead, which held through the first half.

Deering came close to scoring only once in the game, after recovering a fumble inside the Scot 10-yard line late in the game. But even that didn’t produce points.

O’Donnell, meanwhile, found tight end Anthony Atkins on a 15-yard TD pass in the third quarter, then found Delcourt a few minutes later on the sideline bomb.

And, of course, it never hurts to have John Wiechman in the backfield. The talented Bonny Eagle tailback picked up big yardage, setting up that first touchdown, then rose to the occasion late in the game with big runs when it counted.

Wiechman’s running is a perfect example of rising to the occasion, and Cooper says that quality has spread to the rest of the team.

“I told the guys afterwards that good teams have players who make big plays in big games,” said Cooper, “even if the weather is miserable. Look how John ran in the second half, Mike made those two throws and Anthony and Ben made those big catches.

“And I think our defense did a fantastic job up front,” Cooper said. “They did a great job all week studying Deering.”

O’Donnell said he knows his team can still improve, however.

“We know we’re a lot better than we’ve shown,” the quarterback said. “But in this weather, in these conditions, I think we did a heck of a job.”

Added Delcourt, “We’ve got to work on our penalties, but we play our hearts out on Friday nights.”