This game featured four lead changes in the second half, including two in the final 44 seconds. It wasn’t decided until Waterville’s Dalton Denis caught a 37-yard touchdown pass from Brian Bellows with 20.3 seconds left, giving the Purple Panthers a 25-21 win at Drummond Field.

AUGUSTA — It was a major mismatch on paper and, as it turned out on a chilly Friday evening, an even bigger one on the field.

SKOWHEGAN — Longtime Mt. Blue High School head football coach Gary Parlin is no prophet, but he’s been prowling the sidelines long enough to know when one of his hunches is going to be correct.

It’s big because it means something. That was the consensus feeling among players and coaches from the Winslow and Waterville high school football teams as they prepared to face each other in Saturday’s Battle of the Bridge.

No matter the year, the setting or the records, the annual Cony-Gardiner game always means something. Talk to players — past or present — and they will be quick to quip how special this rivalry is, was and forever will be. Tonight, it resumes at Alumni Field in Augusta, where the rivals will play a regular season game for the first time in nine years.

Cony quarterback Ben Lucas will graduate as one of the most prolific passers in Maine history. He’s thrown for 6,501 yards and 72 touchdowns in his career. Lucas has thrown for 2,204 yards and 24 touchdowns this season. He has six interceptions this season, and 27 for his career.

Waterville’s offensive line is a big reason the Purple Panthers average almost 47 points per game, the most in Class C. Winslow’s defensive line is a big reason the Black Raiders allow just under 12 points per game, second only to Leavitt in Class C.