WATERVILLE – An ankle injury to tailback Jim Bower has left the Oxford Hills Vikings without their most formidable weapon this season. Fortunately for the Vikings, they’ve found others in his absence.

Saturday, the Vikings relied on all of those weapons, including a cameo appearance from Bower, to defeat the Waterville Purple Panthers 25-22.

Bower was nowhere near full strength Saturday and was noticeably hobbling every time he jogged onto the field. One week after seeing limited action defensively, he found himself on the return teams along with getting six rushing attempts. He made the most of those carries as he ran for touchdowns of three and 42 yards to end the day with 57 yards rushing.

“You know, it’s nice,” said Oxford Hills coach Paul Bickford off Bower’s return. “There’s no doubt about that. (Tailback) Mason Olmstead had a big game for us a couple of weeks ago against Edward Little. This just makes our team that much better because we have two guys back there we can count on.”

Olmstead led the Vikings (3-2) with 73 yards on the ground. The Vikings other offensive weapon against the Panthers (1-4) was wideout Dan Magoon. Magoon caught touchdown passes of 17 and 55 yards from quarterback Ben Ryerson.

“He’s a track star that started playing football last year,” said Bickford. “He’s got great speed and nice hands.”

Following a scoreless first quarter that saw only three first downs by the two teams, defensive end Jake Cash and linebacker Gary Colello pressured Waterville freshman quarterback Dan Hussey into a hurried pass that was intercepted by Alex Waite. The turnover gave Oxford Hills the ball on the Waterville 17.

Bower capped a four-play drive with a 3-yard touchdown run.

Midway through the second quarter, Ryerson hooked up with Magoon on a fade pass to the corner from 17 yards out and it was 13-0.

Waterville got on the board just before the half ended following a well-orchestrated drive by Hussey who ran for gains of 13, 19 and 25 yards before rolling out and finding Nick Stone for a 6-yard score. Hussey finished with 89 yards on 24 carries.

The Vikings recovered a Hussey fumble early in the third quarter. They didn’t take long to capitalize as Bower took the first-down hand off and raced 42 yards down the right sideline for the touchdown.

“I saw a blitz and knew I had to get outside,” said Bower. “I read my blocks and sprinted.”

The Purple Panthers inched closer after a 10-yard scoring run by Tyler Madore (19 carries for 101 yards), but the Vikings quickly struck back two plays later as Ryerson lofted a long pass deep down the left sideline that Magoon hauled in at the 18 en route to a 55-yard score.

A 1-yard touchdown run by Hussey with 1:52 and subsequent two-point conversion gave the Purple Panthers a chance for a comeback, but a failed onside kick with only one timeout remaining left little hope. A 3-yard run by Bower on third and 2 put the game on ice.

“We had the typical mistakes of a young team,” said Waterville coach Frank Knight.

“We cannot have four turnovers and a couple of breakdowns on their scoring passes. To still be in the game at the end despite those made me proud of our effort.”