BOOTHBAY – Some teams might have been overwhelmed by frustration and doubt after their first two drives inside their opponent’s 5-yard line ended abruptly on fumbles.

The Lisbon Greyhounds, though, just became more resolved to invoke their collective will and proceeded to overwhelm the bigger Boothbay Seahawks, 29-20, Friday night in a matchup of Campbell Conference favorites.

Tony Walker rushed for 168 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries and the Greyhounds (5-0) converted all three of Chris Kates’ interceptions into touchdowns to spoil homecoming for the Seahawks (3-2).

“We always keep fighting,” said Kates, a junior QB/defensive back. “The coaches preach it all during practice, just keep fighting all the time.”

“We knew that defensively, we weren’t going to be able to stop them. We just asked our kids to hang in there,” said Lisbon coach Dick Mynahan. “They were going to go on their drives, and we were hoping, to be honest with you, that a penalty or a turnover here or there might come up and help us out.”

The Greyhounds were hurting themselves with turnovers and penalties in the early going. Following a John Tefft interception, they drove 86 yards on 14 plays down to the Boothbay 4, then fumbled on a second down carry. Then, when it looked like they would answer, D.J. Holcomb’s 1-yard TD run that put Boothbay up 6-0, they had a 53-yard TD run by Kates called back by a penalty, then fumbled at the Boothbay 2.

Boothbay went to the air immediately after the second fumble, with QB Ryan Babcock (7-15, 69 yards, four INTs) looking for his reliable tight end, Mike Norton, over the middle. Kates picked it off at the 6-yard line, and Walker ran it in from three yards out three plays later. Tefft (nine rushes, 119 yards) ran in the two-point conversion to give the Greyhounds the lead for good.

“We tried to know where (Norton) was all the times,” Mynahan said. “We practiced that drag play every day many times , and I thought the kids played it well.”

Kates played it particularly well, as Babcock tried to go to Norton again on Boothbay’s first play of the next series, only to have the junior defensive back intercept it near midfield and return it to the Boothbay 29.

Kates followed with his only completion of the night, a 27-yard pass that Tefft made a fine leaping catch on, to set the Greyhounds up at the 2. Walker then pounded it up the gut and into the end zone to give Lisbon a 14-6 lead at halftime.

“We kind of shot ourselves in the foot on a couple of those calls,” said Boothbay coach Tim Rice. “We were running the ball well. We should have stayed running the ball. They made some plays and the capitalized on them like good teams should.”

The Seahawks showed they had learned their lesson on their first possession of the second half, covering all 52 yards on the ground as Jake Hodgdon (15 rushes, 79 yards) scored from three yards out to make it 14-12. But Tefft stopped Hodgdon short of the goal line on the two-point conversion attempt, and Lisbon maintained its lead.

Tefft’s 42-yard option run on Lisbon’s next series helped set the stage for the Greyhounds next score, a two-yard sneak by Kates, that with Tefft’s PAT kick made it 21-12 late in the third quarter.

Kates snared his third and final interception with 5:22 left in the fourth and Tefft turned it into six points with a 31-yard touchdown run. Tefft then passed to Kates for the two-point conversion that made it a three-score game at 29-12. The Seahawks added a 1-yard TD run by Holcomb with 1:01 left, but Lisbon recovered the ensuing onside kick attempt to preserve the win and its perfect record.