Perhaps the only person happily anticipating the wet weather forecast for tonight is the scoreboard operator at Caldwell Field, because a sloppy track may be the only thing that can keep him from a sudden case of carpal tunnel syndrome.

When last Mt. Blue and Skowhegan squared off two weeks ago, defense took a holiday. The teams combined for 700 yards in Skowhegan as Mt. Blue walked off with a 48-32 win.

The rivals meet again tonight in the Pine Tree Conference semifinals. Both teams continued their offensive assaults in the quarterfinals last week, No. 7 Skowhegan (4-5) with a 46-20 upset of No. 2 Windham and No. 3 Mt. Blue (8-1) with a 28-13 victory over No. 6 Messalonskee.

“I think it’s obvious we’re going to tweak our defense and they’re going to tweak their defense because we couldn’t stop each other,” said Mt. Blue coach Gary Parlin. “It looks like it’s going to be wet (tonight). I don’t know who that gives the advantage to, but it looks like it’s going to be a typical high school playoff game in that it’s going to come down to who takes care of the football.”

The Cougars and Indians combined for seven turnovers in their last meeting. Special teams was Skowhegan’s downfall, allowing an 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, a blocked punt and fumbling two punts.

If the Indians have trouble hanging onto the ball again, chances are the Cougars’ David DiGravio will be ready to pounce on it. The senior strong safety, who recovered one of those Skowhegan punts, hasn’t lost his nose for the ball after he forced one fumble and returned another for a touchdown against Messalonskee.

“The scout team fumbled three times in practice (Wednesday) and all three of them went right to him,” Parlin said. “He just seems to be everywhere. He’s had a tremendous senior year.”

The Cougar defense will use turnovers and any other means necessary to keep the ball out of the hands of Skowhegan running back Aron Chambers, who has rushed for 18 touchdowns and nearly 1,500 yards this season.

Parlin said Chambers is difficult to defend because he has an unconventional running style that makes it useless for defenses to try to stop him at the point of attack.

“With Chambers, you never know where he’s going to make his cut,” he said. “His vision’s as good as any back in this league.”

Chambers burned the Cougars for 243 yards two weeks ago, but he’s not Parlin’s only concern. Jason Lisherness also topped the century mark in rushing against Mt. Blue.

The Cougars’ running game matched Skowhegan’s production in their last meeting, led by fullback Hazen Pingree (603 yards rushing this season) and halfbacks Jordan Stevens and DiGravio. The passing game has steadily improved, sparked by the conference’s third-leading passer, Mason Barker, who can also hurt the Indians on the ground if they don’t keep an eye on him.

“We really think we have pretty good balance,” Parlin said. “We have pretty much four different running options and Mason just gets better throwing the football.”

In contrast to the fireworks anticipated in Farmington, the other semifinal is billed as a defensive standoff between No. 5 Bangor (8-1) and No. 1 Gardiner (8-1). The two teams did not meet in the regular season, but both feature punishing, grind-it-out offenses led by the PTC’s fourth, fifth and sixth leading rushers, Bangor’s Nick Payson and Gardiner’s Tom Colby and Craig Toulouse, respectively.