FARMINGTON – From the time they put it on his desk early in the week, Mt. Blue head coach Gary Parlin liked the game plan defensive assistants Craig Collins and Tim Shumway had devised to slow down the Pine Tree Conference’s leading rusher.

Parlin liked it even more after watching his defense execute that game plan to shut down Chris Duffy and shut out previously unbeaten Messalonskee, 27-0, at Caldwell Field on Friday night.

The Cougars gave the senior tailback no room to run inside and cut his corners outside to limit him to just 16 yards on 11 carries.

“We worked all week on being in the right position. We had our contain guy, our secondary contain guy, our linebackers…Everyone had to do their gap first,” Parlin said. “We talked about recognition so much the kids were bored as hell in practice Wednesday. It was recognition, recognition. Chris and Tim did a great job.”

The Cougars (3-1) didn’t just focus on Duffy. They hemmed in the entire Eagle offense, yielding just 92 total yards and just six first downs, all in the second half when the game was virtually decided.

“We did a lot of preparation during the week and we wanted to play hard and lay some hits,” said linebacker Jordan Stevens, whose defense has given up just three points in its last two games. “We just come out every week and do what we need to do to get the job done.”

The Cougars set the tone early on both sides of the ball. After holding the Eagles (3-1) three-and-out on their opening drive, the offense came out clicking on the ground and through the air. Mason Barker connected with David DiGravio and John Moloney on a couple of important passing plays to set up a nifty 35-yard TD jaunt by Hazen Pingree (seven rushes, 64 yards) that gave the Cougars a 6-0 lead 5:15 into the game.

“That was real important because we haven’t really scored on our opening drive this year and we really wanted to get off to a good start,” Stevens said.

Another big run by Pingree, this one for 24 yards, preceded the Cougars’ next score. Stevens slammed it in from five yards out and, following a two-point run by David DiGravio, it was 14-0.

Barker (9-for-12, 97 yards) completed his first eight pass attempts of the game, but it was DiGravio who took a reverse handoff and threw to Moloney (4 catches, 66 yards) for a 20-yard touchdown pass that made it 21-0 with little over two minutes left in the half.

“We knew Mason had to play well tonight for us to beat these guys,” Parlin said. “Mason works hard and we’ve been waiting for a receiver to step up and make some big plays and John Moloney obviously did that for him tonight.”

Stevens (12 carries, 106 yards, two TDs) put the game away with a 65-yard touchdown run on the second play from scrimmage in the second half.

Messalonskee followed with its deepest foray into Mt. Blue territory on its next drive. The Cougars aided the Eagles with a pair of penalties for first downs, but they buckled down on fourth-and-12 from the 15 to break the Eagles’ backs.