READFIELD -- It took an injury to slow Maranacook's Pat Norwood on Saturday, and in the end that made the difference in Leavitt's 34-28 Pine Tree Conference Class B football victory.

Norwood lined up at tailback, quarterback and receiver for the Black Bears at different points in the game and was effective at each position. Not only did he rush for 180 yards and three touchdowns, he also caught a scoring pass of 42 yards.

With the score 28-all with 4 minutes, 59 seconds left to play, Norwood returned a kickoff 30 yards to the Leavitt 46. The Hornets' Jake Ouellette made a touchdown-saving tackle and Norwood was hurt in the process.

"He just kind of rolled my ankle," Norwood said.

With Norwood out of the lineup, Leavitt's defense held and the Hornets drove 63 yards for the winning score. Tyler Green blasted in from 2 yards out for the game-winner with 43 seconds left.

By then, the Black Bears were worn down and beat up. They had already lost their two big tackles, Dylan Bandon and Zach Snell, to injury in the first half. And Norwood's loss hurt them on both sides of the ball.

"We don't have a lot of depth," Maranacook coach Kevin Norwood said. "They're a little deeper. We got tired."

Just as Leavitt had no answer for Norwood, Maranacook was unable to stop Leavitt junior Josh Strickland, who rushed for 209 yards on 20 carries. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound Strickland is not only strong, but quick and elusive. Effective inside and out, he scored on touchdown runs of 37 and 7 yards.

"I'm in shape this year," Strickland said. "It pays off."

Green finished with 120 yards on 17 carries and was at his best in the fourth quarter when he scored twice.

Norwood returned to the game after his injury but it was obvious he was slowed by his ankle injury. Before that, he was tough to stop. He scored on Maranacook's third play of the game, taking a pass from Corey Palmer over the middle and beating defenders from 42 yards out.

Palmer, Norwood and James Mrazik all lined up at quarterback during the game, and that's where Norwood was most effective.

"We overpursued a few times and (Norwood) made some cutbacks that hurt us," Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway said.

Norwood completely reversed fields on a 33-yard scoring run in the second quarter that put the Black Bears up 20-12.

"Coach gives us a lot of freedom to do whatever we want," Norwood said. "If we don't see anything, we can move around. It works a lot better than it did last year."

Gary Hawkins -- 621-5638

ghawkins@centralmaine.com