KENNEBUNK — The Kennebunk offense struggled to finish drives throughout Friday night’s Class B South football showdown with Falmouth — but the Rams’ D would step up and carry the team to victory.
Kennebunk seniors Dante DeLorenzo and Zack Sullivan each returned interceptions for touchdowns as the Rams rallied from a 1-point halftime deficit to take down the visiting Yachtsmen 25-7 on Friday night.
“It was great. Our offense couldn’t finish, couldn’t punch it in, but our defense really stepped up,” said DeLorenzo, who had two interceptions in the win. “That’s what we have to do. If one person can’t produce, another person has to — if one part of the game can’t produce, the others have to step up.”
The Rams improved to 7-0 with the win and will head to South Berwick next week to take on an undefeated Marshwood squad with home-field advantage on the line.
Next week’s battle of unbeatens was nearly ruined by Falmouth as the Yachtsmen took advantage of a Kennebunk turnover to take a 7-6 lead into halftime.
The Rams opened the scoring with a 60-yard touchdown pass from senior QB Tripp Bush to Ryan Connors. The extra point would sail wide and Kennebunk held a 6-0 lead with 11:35 left in the first half.

It looked like the Rams would hold the 6-point lead at the break, but the Yachtsmen pounced on a fumble with 1:03 left at the Kennebunk 33.
Falmouth quarterback Nick Mancini hit Riley Reed for a 30-yard gain on the first play of the ensuing drive and Coleman Allen rammed his way into the end zone. The extra point was good and suddenly the Rams found themselves behind at the half.
“You have those (ugly) games once or twice during the season and I’d rather have it on a night like tonight than two or three weeks from now in a playoff game,” said Kennebunk coach Joe Rafferty.
Kennebunk, which had an 85-yard kickoff return touchdown called back for a block in the back at the start of the third quarter, would quickly regain the lead in the second half.
The Rams drove 64 yards in seven plays down to the Falmouth 6. They would have to settle for a 23-yard field goal from Connors, who made it 9-7 with 7:56 left in the third.
Connors added a 28-yard field goal late in the third quarter to make it 12-7 — and then the Rams’ defense would put the game away.
DeLorenzo picked off a Falmouth pass and returned it 26 yards for the score with 25 seconds left in the third to make it 18-7.
“I was a step behind him and if he caught it it could have been a big gain,” said DeLorenzo on his pick-six. “Luckily he threw it behind him, (the receiver) bobbled it and it was right there. I looked at the pylon and ran right for it.”
Sullivan put the exclamation point on things with a 20-yard interception return for a touchdown with 3:30 left in regulation to make it 25-7.
“That’s huge. It’s a big, big lift,” said Rafferty on his defense putting points on the board.
DeLorenzo ran the ball 19 times for 108 yards and hauled in one pass for 20 yards to lead the Kennebunk offense. Bush finished with 64 yards on the ground and also completed four passes for 129 yards and one score. Sullivan caught two passes for 49 yards.
The Kennebunk offense put up decent numbers in Friday night’s win, but the Rams know they will need to finish drives if they are going to knock off the Hawks next week.
“(We need to) keep our heads up, prepare for next week and keep doing what we’re doing. We’re fine, we just need to punch it in,” said Sullivan.
A lot of teams stumble the week before a highly-anticipated matchup like Kennebunk has next week at Marshwood — and the Rams were happy to walk away with the W on Friday night.
“It wasn’t really pretty, but we just got through it,” said DeLorenzo. “We finished and next week is going to be all about finishing. It’s Week 8, the biggest game of the year, it’s going to decide home-field advantage, so getting through this game was huge.”
Rafferty is excited for next week’s showdown with Marshwood, but the longtime coach knows his team needs to stay focused.
“We’ve been in this situation with them before. We’ll go home, do our homework and come in hopefully prepared and healthy and it should be a very exciting game,” said Rafferty. “As a high school coach, you look forward to those (games). I think as a player you should be pretty excited. You just have to get focused and stay focused. It is a big game, but you have to approach it and play it like any other.”
— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 780-9017. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.