AMHERST – Attempt No. 1 did not go well. The Alvirne High double pass disintegrated into the Souhegan turf late in the first half when receiver Jack Regan saw quarterback Kyle Gora’s overhand lateral slip right through his fingers for a lost fumble.

Regan got a reprieve, and he made the host Sabers pay.

“I wasn’t really surprised we came back to it,” said Regan, the backup QB a year ago. “It was a play we practiced during the week.”

With Alvirne trailing, 21-20, and facing a fourth-and-9 the Sabers 41 with under three minutes to play, Regan – the receiver-turned-thrower – got his number called again. The senior looked the Gora toss in brilliantly and fired, as far as he could. The rainbow found Jamie Bertrand in the end zone for the game-winning score in a 28-21 thriller.

“Just catch the ball and throw it. That’s all I was thinking,” said Regan, who was amazing catching the ball all night with eight catches for 87 yards.

“I saw it was one-on-one. So I just threw it up for him. He made a great catch. It wasn’t the best throw.”

Ah, but it was plenty good for the senior Bertrand, who muscled his man out of the way and pulled it in.”

Victory puts Alvirne at 2-1 in its move down to Division II. Souhegan, which led 21-7 at one point, falls to 1-2.

“It feels real good,” said Broncos’ coach Tarek Rothe. “That’s a good football team, and this is a tough place to win. I’m happy with the resilience this team has. We’re fighters, and we believed we were coming back to win the football game.”

Lifeless and on the ropes after Souhegan’s John Lohnes hit Trey Johnson on a 14-yard TD in the third, Alvirne needed a spark.

The Broncos got it on Grady Hudson’s electric 81-yard kick return. But even starting at the Sabers’ 14, it didn’t come easy. Rothe reached into his collection of trickery for a fake field-goal try on fourth-and-6, with holder Dylan picking up the requisite 6 (plus an inch) for the first down. Gora plowed in from there, slicing the margin to 21-14.

Alex Giuffrida brought Alvirne even closer early in the fourth on his 8-yard TD blast, his second TD run of the night, but the point-after kick sailed wide, leaving Souhegan up 21-20.

Gora gave his team one last chance, picking off a pass at the Broncos’ 24.

A bad snap and a 7-yard sack by Souhegan’s Riley Lawhorn were more than countered by four Gora-to-Regan connections (for 24, 12, 13 and 6).

But another run-stuff by Lawhord and a pair of Gora incompletions set up the fatal 4th-and-9 double-heave.

Souhegan had one last shot, with Lohnes hitting six of seven passes to move the ball out to midfield in the final

minute.

But a 21-yard holding call and a second 10-yarder ended any chances for the Sabers.

Lohnes threw a pair of TDs to Johnson and ran in another for the Saber scoring.

Souhegan heads to Sanborn Saturday, while Alvirne makes the trip up to ConVal on Friday night.

Stung by the whistle

Look, let’s get this straight. The Souhegan Sabers held a 21-7 lead, got another break when Alvirne missed the potential game-tying PAT kick and couldn’t hold off a great comeback by the Broncos.

So, perhaps they deserved the Friday night loss.

But, it’s very tough to watch an ending like we saw on Friday night in Amherst.

Down 28-21, the Sabers were in scramble mode late. And QB John Lohnes had them moving.

The senior had clicked on 6 of 7 passes and had Souhegan at midfield. The game had reached a fever pitch.

And then, in a flash of yellow, it was over. On second-and-3, the Sabers were hit with a holding flag, turning the makeable down into second-and-24.

Almost as if to make sure, there was a call that Souhegan’s Robin Bowkett said was, “I think a block in the back.” The game was basically over.

Here’s the hook, though. Penalty flags were so few and far between for the first 47 minutes of the game. Honestly, I remember a pass interference flag on Alvirne, a couple minor procedures and a whole lot of warnings from the field, as in: “Hey coach, tell #95 he can’t hold like that.”

In other words, 47 minutes of QUALITY officiating, letting the players decide things.

And then came the last minute. Of the hold, Bowkett judiciously chuckled and said, “Holding call in the backfield, and it’s second and forever. Must have been pretty egregious.”

It’s too bad, the game was a classic right up until the 48th minute.

Milford drops Pelham, 35-14

Gavin Urda ran for a pair of TDs and threw a 20-yarder to Joe Shepard, pushing Milford to 2-1 i=n a game at Harris Field in Pelham.

Junior Ughu also ran for a TD, and Kyle Nostrand picked off a pass and scoored on the play.

The Spartans host 3-0 St. Thomas in a huge battle on Friday night.