PORTLAND – Lisbon High School consistently wins football games because the Greyhounds traditionally do all the little things right.

Make all the little plays. Don’t commit costly little penalties. Use a little wrinkle to produce a little gain when they need a little lift.

Funny, then, that Foxcroft Academy finally climbed the Class C mountain and won the state title with big plays on the artificial turf at big Fitzpatrick Stadium.

Bam! Matt Earnest stepped in the path of a Chris Kates-to-John Tefft aerial at full stride and returned it 62 yards in the other direction for six points.

“That was the biggest play of the game,” said Foxcroft senior Lincoln Robinson. “What a confidence boost for our defense.”

Boom! Earnest hooked up with quarterback and coach’s son Josh Withee on a third down early in the second quarter. The Ponies needed 22 yards to keep the drive alive. They got 38. It was the springboard to an 8-yard touchdown run by Bobby Gilbert.

“They’re all sophomores and juniors, and they’re going to be a hell of a football team next year,” Withee said of Lisbon. “We fell a little shy last year, and we were determined not to let it happen again.”

Bang! Gilbert saw the Greyhounds’ first touchdown of the day and raised them one special teams gem. Switching the football from his right hand to his left as he outran Lisbon pursuers in the same direction, Gilbert covered 77 yards and restored the Ponies’ two-touchdown edge.

“A couple times we thought we had him wrapped up, and he still got away,” said Lisbon coach Dick Mynahan.

Poof! When Kates capped a lengthy Lisbon drive with a 1-yard sneak that appeared to put the Greyhounds in position for another comeback for the ages, Gilbert counterpunched and exorcised the demons of the storied state-title loss to Lisbon in 1997 with a 61-yard jaunt along the Foxcroft sideline on the Ponies’ next play from scrimmage.

“It was a battle. They came back on us, and we came right back at them,” Gilbert said.

Everything’s magnified under the state championship spotlight, and everything the Greyhounds did well Saturday afternoon at Fitzpatrick Stadium, the Ponies did just an eyelash better.

And more loudly.

“Earnest makes the interception return. We go up 12-0. They make a play to get back in it, and Gilbert runs back the kickoff. They score another touchdown, and Gilbert goes the distance on the very next play,” said Robinson. “Those were huge momentum shifts.”

The Ponies know what it’s like to be trumped by a more experienced opponent. Foxcroft let one slip away last fall, watching Boothbay walk away with a five-point win and its second straight state championship.

Every time Foxcroft avenged one of Lisbon’s direct hits, the Greyhounds bore the brunt of two years’ worth of frustration.

“We talked about it all week that for 20 of us seniors, this is probably the last time we’d put on the pads,” Robinson said. “You don’t get many second chances for anything in life, especially a second chance to win a state championship.”

Sophomore and junior-laded Lisbon may receive a second or even third opportunity to put their mitts on the symbolic Gold Ball.

When they ponder Missed Opportunity No. 1, however, the Greyhounds will take inventory of a game they ruled in total yardage and time of possession.

Among dozens of well-executed plays, one or two bad apples spoiled the bunch.

“Our defense did everything we wanted,” said Mynahan. “We played hard and lost to a good football team.”

By a little margin in a big game.

Kalle Oakes is sports editor and can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].