FARMINGTON — The fourth quarter is usually a time for the Leavitt Hornets to kick back, relax and savor the final stages of a job well done.

The Hornets had almost no time to savor what they accomplished on Friday night at Kemp Field, at least while the clock was still involved. But the bus ride back to Turner must have been a sweet trip.

Jake Ouellette’s 7-yard touchdown run with 6:31 put the Hornets in front and the defense kept them in front with two big stops down the stretch to emerge with a 22-17 victory over Mt. Blue in a much-anticipated battle of unbeatens.

Ouellette rushed for 54 yards and a touchdown and caught four passes for 91 yards and another score. Senior quarterback Jordan Hersom rushed for 56 yards, was an efficient 9-for-12 for 161 yards and a touchdown through the air and hauled in a big interception to help seal the win.

“It’s a great win,” Hersom said. “We came in here and played pretty well for the most part. You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Mt. Blue for coming back and putting themselves in a great position to win the game. We just worked hard the whole game and it was a great game, the best game I’ve ever played in in high school football.”

Because both defenses could match speed with speed, it wasn’t the shootout many anticipated from the two highest-scoring offenses in the state. But it didn’t lack for drama.

Two fourth-quarter turnovers doomed the  Cougars (5-1). The first, a fumble recovered by Leavitt’s Dan Sleeper at his own 43, set up Ouellette’s game-winning touchdown. Ouellette took a pitch to the right from Hersom at the 7 and rumbled in from there, barrelling over Cougars at the goal line to make it 20-17.

Dustin Moore kicked the extra point, but the Hornets (6-0) were called for a false start. Backed up five yards by the penalty, Leavitt elected to go for two, and Hersom found Brian Bedard alone near the left sideline in the end zone for the conversion that forced the Cougars to score a touchdown for the win.

Both teams went three-and-out on their next possession. Mt. Blue drove to its own 47 after a terrific leaping sideline catch by Cam Sennick, but Jordan Whitney (13-for-25, 240 yards, TD, INT) left too much air under his pass in front of the Leavitt sideline and Hersom hauled it in at his own 25 to give the Hornets a chance to burn some clock with 2:09 remaining.

“We were in kind of a prevent defense because we knew that they were going to pass,” Hersom said. “I was back deep and I just made a play on the ball. I was in a position to go up and get the ball.”

“The whole thing with a close football game, whoever has the most turnovers usually loses,” Mt. Blue coach Gary Parlin said. “We had three turnovers and them one. It was a bad interception. (Whitney) just didn’t throw it quick enough. The receiver was open. He just didn’t throw it quick enough.”

Mt. Blue gave itself another chance by forcing Leavitt to punt after three plays and, after a fine return by Eric Berry, got the ball back in good field position at its own 49 with 1:12 left. But a sack by Jake Posik, Leavitt’s only sack of the game, put the Cougars in a hole, one they ultimately couldn’t get out of as Whitney’s 4th-and-3 throw intended for Nick Hilton fell incomplete.

Leavitt dominated the first quarter, outgaining Mt. Blue 111-7, yet the Hornets only had a 7-0 lead to show for it. Helped by a roughing the passer penalty, they drove 92 yards in 15 plays on their first possession, capped by Ian Durgin’s 14-yard scoring run.

“We could have done some things better at several points in the game, but part of that was they were playing tough defense,” Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway said. “They defeat blocks well and they tackle well and they’re well-coached.”

Mt. Blue tied the game when Whitney threw a perfect pass that hit Izaiha Tracy in stride on a circle route for a 28-yard touchdown with 1:29 left in the first half.

Leavitt answered quickly as Hersom went to the air four times in a five-play drive and found Ouellette over the middle for a 31-yard touchdown that made it 14-7 with 15.3 seconds to go in the half.

“Coach told me I was getting in on that play. He said, ‘Catch it and you’re in,'” Ouellette said. “I went across the middle, caught it, took a good lick from 45 (Tracy), bounced off him and went into the end zone.”

Time ran out on the Cougars’ bid to tie the game before intermission. Whitney hooked up with Hilton (four catches, 113 yards) on a 42-yard pass to the Leavitt 7 with 0.5 of a second left, but his pass to Chris Malone in the end zone as time expired was ruled incomplete.

The Cougars needed just one play to tie the game on their first series of the second half as Berry scampered 43 yards to the end zone. They then converted Leavitt’s only turnover, a Hersom fumble at his own 36, into points, a 30-yard field goal by Shawn Keach that gave them their only lead with 5:18 remaining in the third quarter.

Penalties (eight for 55 yards) and another fumble kept the Cougars from building a bigger cushion. The Hornets also did an excellent job holding all-purpose back Tracy to just eight yards on four carries and the touchdown catch, his only catch of the game.

“He’s a great football player. We knew that him running the football was going to be a big part of what they did,” Hathaway said. “We felt if we could stop that first… that was probably our No. 1 priority.”

“We had to read our keys every play. Everyone had to play their square, stay on your man, play your assignment and everything because one little slip and a good team like that can beat you,” Ouellette said. “It happened a few times, but we just had to keep on our assignments.”