GARDINER — The Gardiner football team needed a team effort to pick up its first win of the season on Friday night. When they needed it most, the Tigers delivered.

Pushed across the goal line by his offensive linemen, senior running back Kyle Doody completed a 4-yard touchdown run in overtime to seal Gardiner’s 14-7 victory over Mt. Blue in a Class B North battle at Hoch Field.

“(The line) gave a big push,” said Doody, who ran for 86 yards on 14 carries. “We came up with (a play) at halftime. (The touchdown) was that play. We put that in, executed and came out on top.”

“Those 11 guys (on offense) went out and executed, and I couldn’t be more proud of the totality of our team,” Gardiner head coach Patrick Munzing said. “We had guys (subbing) in and out, injuries again. I think last week prepared us for that. They really battled from start to finish.”

The win was a needed bounce-back for the Tigers (1-1), who fell 26-0 to Lawrence in the season opener last week in Fairfield.

“(The win) is huge for us,” Doody said. “After going up there and losing, we really came back with a fire lit. We wanted to win and decided to get it.”

Tigers junior quarterback Asher Nagy was 11 of 20 passing for 137 yards. One of those completions was a 46-yard touchdown pass to senior receiver Chase Burgess on a seam route to give Gardiner a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. Burgess had seven receptions for 122 yards.

Gardiner’s defense held Mt. Blue (1-1) to 63 offensive yards in the first half. But the Cougars fought back, and finally hit the big play they needed in the third quarter, when senior running back Dane Cousineau took a handoff, cut to his left and sprinted 53 yards downfield for a touchdown. Cannon Smith’s extra point tied the game 7-7.

Cousineau ran for 72 yards on 18 carries. Junior quarterback Gary Harkins was 13 of 23 passing for 121 yards, with an interception.

“I’m very happy with how we bounced back,” Mt. Blue head coach Matt Friedman said. “We started a little flat and made some mistakes. I’ll give Gardiner credit, they did some things defensively that we weren’t prepared for, so we had to make some adjustments. I feel like, in the second half, we came out and made those adjustments. We made it a game, and that’s what we were hoping to do.”

Neither team gained ground in the fourth quarter, forcing overtime, which consists of each offense starting with the ball at the opponent’s 10-yard line, with four tries to get a touchdown. Gardiner had the first possession, with Doody scoring on third down.

Mt. Blue started its series with a run by Cousineau, but Gardiner’s defense immediately surrounded him for a 2-yard loss. Harkins threw back-to-back incompletions. On the final play, Harkins dumped the ball to Sebastian Kelley, who was immediately tackled to end the game.

“Kudos to (assistant coach) Pat Colwell, calling our defense,” Munzing said. “He’s kind of taken that over, and over the past couple years, he’s been in the system and (now) is calling the whole thing. He’s done a great job in putting a plan in place and really being able to make adjustments in game. (Mt. Blue) kind of figured out (the defense) midway through that second quarter. He was able to come up with a couple of quick adjustments on the fly that continued to stymie (the offense).”