Cougars chew up Black Bears to remain perfect

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.