DIXFIELD — The ability to strike quickly has become second nature to
the Dirigo football team.

  That trend continued as the Cougars won their second-straight Class C Campbell Conference regular-season
championship.

Tyler
Chiasson rushed for two touchdowns early and the Cougars defense
capitalized on numerous turnovers to remain unbeaten with a
satisfying 40-6 win over Maranacook on Saturday.

Dirigo
(7-0) scored three times on its first four plays before the faithful
at Harlow Park had a chance to return from the Chow House. The 20-0
lead, each off turnovers, forced Maranacook to try and catch up,
however mistakes proved costly.

“This
feels so good,” said Dirigo senior Alex Miele, who intercepted two
passes and caught a TD pass. “It’s good knowing that we played
well and are the first team to clinch a Campbell Conference
championship.”

A
big kickoff return by
Bryan Blackman set Dirigo up in the red zone and quarterback Nic
Crutchfield threw to Kyle Hutchinson for 17 yards. Chiasson bulled
over from 1 yard out.

Maranacook
(3-4) started a drive, but 6-foot-5 QB James Mrazik threw into double
coverage and Blackman intercepted. The Black Bears proved to be their
own worst enemy with six turnovers. Chiasson scored on a 32-yard run.

Maranacook
relied on Luke Emery (90 yards, 17 carries) and Connor Lacasse (60
yards, 11 carries) to earn 13 of its 15 first downs. The Back Bears
are limited with big
tight end Ben Johnson who is out with a knee injury.

Mason
Cote recovered a fumble and on the next play Crutchfield (eight of
13 for 169 yards, two TDs) threw to a wide open Hutchinson for a
15-yard TD.

“We
actually wanted to work on our passing,” Dirigo
coach Doug Gilbert said. “We haven’t really been able to throw
the ball for the past two weeks. I would have liked to pass 40 times
today, although we didn’t.”

Maranacook gained huge
chunks of yardage behind a massive front line, and Emery scored on a
4-yard run. Following a Cougar punt, Miele picked off a pass with
7.7 seconds left in the first half and immediately struck again.
The side judge asked Crutchfield if he was kneeling, but the single
caller dropped and threw to Spencer Ross who was open on the left
side. Ross spun around, used a wrist to remain upright and cut across
the grain for a 55-yard TD. Dirigo led 30-6 at halftime.

“I had wanted to go with
a fly,”Gilbert said. “But when I went in the huddle the kids
said lets try a waggle that was in our playbook. They had the
confidence to try it.”

In the third quarter, Arik
Fenstermacher recovered a fumble and Chiasson
ran for 24. Crutchfield scrambled and found Miele uncovered in the
corner of the end zone. Dirigo has another weapon in Eric
Bolduc who kicked field goals of 42 and 37 yards and four extra
points.

“We
had awesome field position all day,” Miele said. “Eric had three
touchbacks in addition to his other kicks. The (all state soccer
player) is a great addition to this team. Maranacook is a big team,
but we hit hard and low. We played as a team.”

Reserve
QB Ben Holmes ran the fourth quarter and Mike Smith intercepted a
pass.