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WATERBORO —Deering football coach Brendan Scully kept the halftime message to his team simple.

“You’re better than this. You’re letting them take it to you. We’re getting the ball in the second half. Be ready to go,” Scully said.

Down a touchdown after getting outplayed on both sides of the ball, the Rams responded to their coach’s simple admonishment. Deering scored a pair of third-quarter touchdowns, then made a defensive stop in the final minutes to take a 21-14 win at Massabesic in a battle of unbeaten Class B South teams.

Deering is now 4-0, while Massabesic is 3-1.

“We just needed to lock in, basically,” said Deering’s Joey Foley, whose 3-yard touchdown run in the second quarter was about the only first-half highlight for the Rams.

Deering trailed 14-7 at the break and was held to 75 yards in the first half. The Rams nearly matched that total on the opening drive of the second half, going 71 yards in 10 plays to tie the game on Zeke Dewever’s 10-yard touchdown reception from Tavian Lauture with 6:44 left in the third quarter.

“We started off slow, and it showed. We came out at half, and we were more energetic,” said Lauture (100 yards rushing, 80 passing).

After forcing a Mustangs three-and-out, Deering took the lead with a 58-yard drive, capped by Lauture’s 3-yard run with 2:04 remaining in the third.

The Rams gained 228 yards in the second half.

The first-half struggles were a result of letting the Mustangs control the game with their speed, Scully said. Caden Nielsen’s 6-yard touchdown catch on a Cam Bradbury pass gave Massabesic a 7-0 advantage midway through the second quarter. The Mustangs took a 14-7 lead with 31 seconds left in the first half on a Bradbury 1-yard run.

“They’re very quick. We were not prepared at the beginning of the game for the speed they showed us,” Scully said. “We didn’t respond in the first half to any adversity. They were very quick and they were all over us. We didn’t use our physicality, our strength, anything like that.”

After seizing control in the third quarter, the Rams had a chance to increase their lead early in the fourth when Lauture broke off a long run deep into Massabesic territory, but Kyle Abbott stripped the ball from Lauture and the Mustangs recovered. Another Deering drive ended on downs at the Massabesic 36 with 5:15 left, setting up the Mustangs’ final chance.

Massabesic drove to Deering’s 22, but under pressure, Bradbury’s fourth-and-9 pass fell incomplete with 1:36 remaining.

“Kyle Abbott made one of the more incredible football plays I’ve seen, ripping it out of Lauture’s hands and giving us a shot. We didn’t capitalize on that, but we got (another) stop and had another chance. We drove the field. I thought we were going to punch it in for sure. The plan was to score and go for two and secure the victory that way,” Massabesic Coach Lucas Labbe said. “They got some pressure on Brad, and that makes that pass game a little tricky. He’s got a guy in the face, it’s hard to make that pinpoint throw.”

Added Lauture: “We knew passes were coming. Our line got back there and didn’t give him much time to throw the ball.”

Foley ran for 112 yards on 17 carries. The Rams’ option game worked well, with Mustangs defenders often unable to quickly decipher if Lauture had the ball or if he’d handed it off.

“They had looked so good in previous weeks running their power game behind those big linemen, that we dedicated a lot of time to stopping their power offense. We knew they had that option wrinkle,” Labbe said. “To see it start to come out, we were scrambling to get our option responsibilities. We had moments we did, then they’d gash us. That’s what the option does if you don’t follow the assignment.”

Deering was able to pull out the win despite 115 yards in penalties.

“That hasn’t been characteristic of us, and it’s something we’re going to have to work on,” Scully said.