ORONO, Maine (Nov. 4, 2023) …
Elijah Burris rushed for a career-high 173 yards and scored four touchdowns including the game winner with 1:48 to go to lead Hampton (5-4, 3-4) to a 42-35 come-from-behind win over Maine (2-8, 2-7).
The Black Bears marched 65 yards in 12 plays culminating in a 19-yard pass from Robertson to Rohan Jones for the game's first score. But Hampton responded on a five-play, 86-yard drive highlighted by
Darran Butts who dashed 68 yards to the nine-yard line and teammate
Elijah Burris then scored on a one-yard run.
Brian Csehoski booted the extra point to tie the score, 7-7, with 2:57 to go in the first quarter.
Maine struck again as Robertson again connected with Jones, with a 10-yard TD pass to give the Black Bears a 14-7 lead.
Burris set up the game-tying score on a 60-yard run and quarterback
Chris Zellous scored from four yards out to knot the score, 14-14, with 11:12 to go before halftime.
Robertson hit Jamie Lamson with a 49-yard TD pass to give Maine a 21-14 lead midway through the second quarter and tossed his fourth touchdown pass of the half, a one-yard strike to Cooper Heisey, to make the score 28-14 at intermission.
Burris dashed 80 yards untouched up-the-middle 19 seconds into the second half for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 28-21. But the Black Bears roared back. A fake punt led to a first down inside the red zone setting up Maine's next score. Robertson tossed a nine-yard TD pass to Jones making the score 35-21. Zellous brought the Pirates back with a 55-yard pass to
Romon Copeland with :51 left in third quarter closed the gap to 35-28 in the final minute of the third quarter.
A pair of long runs by Zellous set up a seven-yard scoring run by Burris and Csehoski's extra point to tie the score at 35-35 with 8:51 to go in the contest. A Maine fumble gave Hampton the ball at the Maine 38 yard line with 5:49 to go.
Hampton turned a Maine fumble into the game-winning score when Burris bulled in from the four-yard line with 1:48 to go and the Pirate defense held in the final minute for the win.