Chris Kates throws for two touchdowns and runs in another as Lisbon captures the Western Class C title.
By Randy Whitehouse
Staff Writer

LISBON FALLS – During the early stages of Saturday’s Western Class C final, Tony Walker stood on the sideline, trying to shake the cobwebs out of his head while receiving treatment for a bloody nose.

Meanwhile, Walker’s Lisbon teammates were on the field, trying to figure out what had just hit them, and what they could do to stop the bleeding.

But the Greyhounds recovered, and so did Walker, just in time to turn the tide in what had been a Boothbay-dominated first half.

Buoyed by a remarkable two-minute drive to end the first half, the top-seeded Greyhounds dominated the second stanza on their way to a 28-14 victory over No. 2 Boothbay at Thompson Field.

It is Lisbon’s first regional title since 1997, the last time they won the state title. The Greyhounds will face Eastern Maine champion Foxcroft Academy (also their opponent in 1997) for the Class C championship next Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.

Walker ran for 182 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries and Chris Kates ran for a score and threw for two more as Lisbon (11-0) knocked off the two-time defending state champions for the second time this year.

“It felt great today,” said Lisbon coach Dick Mynahan. “I got a little choked up at the end. It still feels a little strange to me. We’ve gone someplace I didn’t expect to be, but this is a group that doesn’t seem to know how to give up.”

Walker’s nose got busted open when someone’s knee came up under his face mask during a running play on Lisbon’s first defensive series. As he was being attended to near the Lisbon bench, Boothbay was drawing first blood on the field, pummeling Lisbon with its smashmouth double-wing offense.

Walker got back on the field after the first series, but was as helpless as the rest of the Greyhounds as Boothbay continued to pound the ball behind Justin Wood (17 rushes, 85 yards) and D.J. Holcomb (20 carries, 117 yards, TD). After their first two drives came up short, the Seahawks took a 6-0 lead in the second quarter on Holcomb’s one-yard dive.

Yet for all the punishment it had taken, Lisbon’s defense buckled down when it needed to most, denying Boothbay scoring bids inside its own 20 three different times in the first half.

“We stopped them when we had to stop them,” Walker said. “We did whatever we could to keep them out of the end zone.”

On two of those three stands, defensive back Carl Grady (11 tackles, three solo, two interceptions) stopped Boothbay’s Jon Farrin (18 carries, 32 yards, TD) for little or no gain on fourth down. The second time, when he pushed Farrin out of bounds at his own four, Grady set up the turning point of the game.

Lisbon took over with less than two minutes left in the first half, drove 96 yards and tied the game. When Mitch Harmon came down with Chris Kates’ 20-yard pass into the end zone amidst heavy traffic with no time left, the Greyhounds (11-0) had the tangible proof they needed to say they had withstood Boothbay’s best shot.

“That took some wind out of us,” Boothbay coach Tim Rice said. “We got down inside (the 20) three times and we didn’t capitalize on it. If we’d gone up (two touchdowns) it could have been different. But it’s all woulda, coulda, shouldas. Lisbon made the plays. They’re a great team.”

“That (first six points) was big. That was what pumped us all up,” Walker said. “When we got that, we knew we could take it.”

Lisbon carried the momentum into its first possession of the second half. A fine kick return by Kates set the Greyhounds up at the Boothbay 42 and five plays later, Kates scored on a two-yard sneak. John Teft’s run on what appeared to be a faked botched snap on the PAT made it 14-6.

“I thought this game was completely in Boothbay’s corner. They played a terrific game,” Mynahan said. “They came here to be physical, but we knew they were going to, and slowly, slowly these guys just worked their way back into the game.”

The teams exchanged turnovers before Boothbay (8-3) put together another march into Lisbon territory. The Seahawks drove from their 19 to the Lisbon 35, but were thwarted again when a fourth down pass by Ryan Babcock (4-8, 62 yards, two INTs) fell incomplete.

The Greyhounds took over, but a holding penalty set them back to their own 22. It didn’t matter, as Walker busted one up the middle and outraced the Boothbay secondary for a 77-yard TD that gave the Greyhounds a 20-6 lead.

“At first I didn’t think the hole was going to be too big, because it was a ‘middle give’ and I saw two (Boothbay) guys in the middle,” Walker said. “Then I saw two great blocks from my line, I broke it, and I just wanted to go all the way because they had made such great blocks.”

The two teams exchanged turnovers again, but a Kates fumble, recovered at the Lisbon six by Boothbay’s Matt Higgins (seven tackles, two fumble recoveries) proved more costly, as the Seahawks made it a six-point game on Farrin’s three-yard TD run, followed by a two-point pass from Babcock to Farrin.

Both teams went three-and-out on their next series, but a 42-yard punt by Tefft and a Boothbay penalty helped give the Greyhounds the edge in field position. Starting from the Boothbay 40, Kates connected with Derek Roy over the middle. The senior slipped a tackle at the 25 and sprinted to the end zone to widen the margin back to two touchdowns. Kates added a two-point run, and Grady supplied the icing with an interception with 5:25 left.

“The play was to John (Tefft). Derek didn’t even have a pattern to run,” Kates said. “I was under pressure and I just knew he was going to be there.”

“Sometimes in a game like this, it’s about timing,” Mynahan said, “and we had some great timing going our way today.”