TOPSHAM – One of the early goals the Mt. Ararat football team set for itself this season was to win on opening night.

After losing to Oxford Hills last year, the Eagles knew how important an early win could be.

“Last year, we went to Oxford Hills and lost in overtime in a game all of us felt we probably should have won and that set the tone for the season right there,” said Mt. Ararat coach Erik Sargent, whose club went 2-6.

The Eagles may have set a very different tone for itself Friday with a strong second half and a 19-7 win over Oxford Hills.

“It’s an unbelievable win for us,” said Sargent. “To open up our second year in Class A with a win against a team that was considered to be one of the best in our conference is a great start.”

In a game that often looked more like a preseason outing than the real thing, it was a matter of which team managed to overcome its mistakes. While Mt. Ararat limited its miscues after the first half, Oxford Hills’ problems only got worse. The Vikings struggled to maintain an offensive attack in the first half. With a pair of block-in-the-back penalties nullifying one score and taking away an opportunity inside the 5-yard line, the Vikings could not build on an early 7-0 lead. Then two interceptions in the second half set up Mt. Ararat touchdowns and fueled the Eagles comeback.

“They took advantage of the opportunities that were there,” said Oxford Hills coach Paul Bickford. “Turnovers inside the 30-yard line, eventually those are going to catch up and bite you.”

Mt. Ararat had gotten within 7-6 with 1:10 left in the third quarter. After managing just 43 total yards in the first half, the Eagles moved the ball better. A 21-yard run by quarterback Brad Sturgeon put the Eagles on the board but a missed extra point, hindered by an Ararat penalty, kept the Vikings ahead.

“I think offensively we were just trying to be too cute,” said Sargent, whose club dominated the middle of the field in the second half after earning 40 yards in penalties in the first half. “We were outsmarting ourselves. In the second half, we said Let’s go back to playing basic option football the way we know how to play it’.”

Though a fumble on its next possession didn’t cost the Vikings, an interception by Jim Ouellette did. He set the Eagles up at the 22. Three plays later, Sturgeon was in with 7:58 left in the game.

Before Oxford Hills could muster a comeback, lineman Stephen Bartlett picked off another pass. That led to another Sturgeon score, from the 2 with 5:08 left.

“We didn’t self destruct,” said Sargent. “They made some mistakes, and we capitalized and it really energized our kids.”

Oxford Hills managed just 80 yards in the second half. With Jim Bower out of the game early after aggravating an ankle injury, the Vikings struggled to get things moving. They got an early 7-0 lead on a nice catch by Dan Magoon. That set up a 1-yard plunge by Cory Smith with 5:44 left in the first quarter.

“We started out firing,” said Bickford. “That first drive of the game. Magoon made a couple of great catches on that. Defensively, I thought we were controlling the tempo for most of the game, but offensively, we didn’t move the ball. Mt. Ararat did a good job shutting down our running game and our passing game as well.”

Smith led the Vikings with 65 yards on 13 carries while quarterback Ben Ryerson threw for 92 yards. Sturgeon finished with 73 yards on 24 carries.