AUBURN – Dominant.

Whether it was 29-toss or 27-counter, the Oxford Hills offensive line heeded the call, sending Edward Little defenders flying backwards all night and allowing tailback Mason Olmstead to rush for a career-high 257 yards and a touchdown as the Vikings ran over the Red Eddies and hung on down the stretch for a 13-12 win at Walton Field.

“A back is only as good as his line,” said Olmstead. “They blocked so well.”

“We won that game in the trenches,” Oxford Hills coach Paul Bickford told his team after the game. “The line was the difference.”

And while the line may have provided the initial hole, Olmstead gained a lot of his yards in the EL secondary. In all, he rushed for 10 or more yards five times, including a 78-yard run on a third down and eight from his own 10-yard line in the fourth quarter.

“That play was huge,” said Olmstead. “That was a 29-toss, and I went outside with it and juked, cut back in and just sprinted.”

EL’s Jon Demers saved a touchdown by tracking Olmstead down inside the EL 15-yard line, and three downs later, with 6:50 left on the clock, EL stopped the Vikings (1-2) and had another chance on offense.

After three plays and just three yards of offense, EL was forced to punt. On the ensuing drive, Oxford managed to move all the way to the Eddies’ 1-yard line before Olmstead fumbled the ball. Still, with just 1:24 left in the game, the prospect of Edward Little marching 99 yards was slim.

“We played hard but not well enough to win,” said EL coach Jim Hersom. “At times we were able to stop them on defense, and at times we couldn’t at all. The counter hurt us, the toss hurt us, and their power hurt us.”

After falling behind 10-0 on Olmstead’s touchdown and a field goal by Alex Waite, the Eddies stormed back in the second quarter when Robie Leighton pounded the ball in from the 1-yard line with 5:10 to play, but the Eddies then missed the extra point and trailed still by four points.

On its first play from scrimmage in the second half, Leighton took the ball off the left tackle, cut back across the secondary and scampered for 60 yards, temporarily putting the Eddies ahead, 12-10 (again with a missed point after).

Waite nailed his second field goal of the game, a 20-yard boot late in the third, to put the Vikings back on top for good.

Oxford Hills will play against Lewiston next week, while Edward Little will travel to Brunswick.