WINTHROP – Elliot Cohen might as well been wearing a bull’s-eye on his chest Friday. Or perhaps a different color shirt, something that would label him as the player to key on for the Winthrop defense.

It wouldn’t have mattered.

The Cape Elizabeth senior tailback ripped through the Winthrop defense for 147 yards on 34 carries to lead the Capers to a 7-6 win over the Ramblers.

At one point in the second half Cohen carried the ball 13 consecutive plays over four separate series. The rest of the Cape Elizabeth (2-1) offense managed just eight yards, so Cohen was definitely the best option for the Capers.

“At the beginning of the game we saw we could run power,” said Cohen, “and we just kept doing it.”

Cohen picked up most of his yardage between the tackles with his low-charging, powerful running.

“You can’t get a sure shot at him,” said Cape coach Miley Maher. “That’s one of his assets.”

Cohen’s first touch came on the first play of the game as he took an inside handoff for 47 yards to the Winthrop 18, but the drive ended on the next play when Travis Frautten intercepted a Matt McClellan pass.

Later in the second quarter, Cape’s Andy McDonald recovered a Winthrop fumble near midfield.

Nine plays later, the Capers were faced with a 4th-and-11 situation from the Ramblers 20.

Maher elected to go to the air and McClellan found end Zach Nedwell for a touchdown. Nedwell slipped in behind the Winthrop defense and McClellan found him open on a fade pattern.

Mike Richards executed the PAT attempt and Cape led 7-0 with 6:18 to go in the half.

The Ramblers (0-3) came right back as Frautten hooked up with converted tight end Jake Clark for a 49-yard pass play down the right sideline. Clark started at quarterback for the Ramblers last season, but was seeing action for the first time after recently breaking his hand.

Clark was able to play despite sporting a cast.

A few plays later, Tavis Hasenfus (20 carries, 70 yards) plowed into the end zone from a yard out for the Ramblers first score of the season. Winthrop lost the chance to go ahead, however, when Frautten’s pass attempt on the conversion sailed high over his intended target.

Cape would threaten again late in the half, but would run out of time after making it to the Winthrop 5.

Winthrop put one more drive together, but the 13-play march midway through the second half would end on the Cape 21.

Dropped balls and fumbles plagued the young Ramblers all night, turning the ball over four times.

Hasenfus was the third starting tailback in as many games due to injuries, which has made it difficult to achieve any consistency on offense.

In the end, it was too much Cohen and not enough tackling for Winthrop.

“He really ran hard with the ball,” said Winthrop coach Chris Kempton, “and we tackled horribly. We were tackling up high and not wrapping the legs.”