By Randy Whitehouse,Staff Writer

SOUTH PARIS – Mt. Blue head coach Gary Parlin normally likes to wait until his QBs become seniors before giving them the starting nod under center.

But Mason Barker got an early jump as a junior last year, and it appears to be paying off already for the Cougars.

Barker threw for 126 yards and rushed for a team-high 54 as Mt. Blue scored on two of its first three possessions and held Oxford Hills at bay in a 28-14 opening night win.

“He has such a great grasp of this offense,” Parlin said. “This year he gives me things that we can work on, things that we can run. Last year, he couldn’t take that responsibility.”

“We’ve just got a lot of heart. We can dig deep,” said Barker, who completed 9-of-16 passes on the night. “We had a lot of guys lifting in the off-season. We won this game in the off-season.”

Mt. Blue looked in mid-season form from the start, despite the absence of running back Hazen Pingree, who is sidelined indefinitely with an injured knee.

The Cougars started at midfield on their first possession and Barker engineered an eight-play drive with his legs and arm to get them on the board first. Mike Toothaker capped it with the first of his three rushing touchdowns on the night, this one from two yards out, to make it 7-0.

They doubled the margin at the start of the second quarter on a drive kept alive by Barker’s 33-yard completion to Hal Robbins on 3rd-and-12. Toothaker dove in from a yard out six plays later.

The Vikings finally got their offense going and got halfback Jim Bower (23 carries, 86 yards) untracked on their next possession, but back-to-back illegal procedure penalties stalled a promising drive in Cougar territory.

“We made a lot of mental mistakes,” said Oxford Hills’ coach Bob Austin. “We have some older kids, but they’re not seasoned offensively. Mt. Blue’s a very good team, and we’re hopefully going to be a very good team when we get our team together and stop making the mental mistakes.”

They almost shot themselves in the foot again after Ben Ryerson (12-for-19, 152 yards, two TDs) engineered a fine two-minute drill to get them to the Cougar two late in the first half. Another illegal procedure flag pushed them back to the 10. Ryerson salvaged the drive, though, by lobbing a pass to Ethan Sutton in the left corner of the end zone and it was 14-6 heading into halftime.

Mt. Blue started the second half much like it began the first by relying on Barker’s running and passing and enjoyed a two touchdown cushion again after Robbins’ eight-yard TD run.

Oxford Hills got back to within a touchdown on its ensuing possession, a 17-play drive in which they converted two fourth-and-short yardage situations. Ryerson found Alex Waite in the left flat for a three-yard score, and Sutton ran in the two-point conversion on a fake kick with 11:16 to go in the game.

But once again, the Cougars responded on their next possession. Barker completed three-of-four passes and got a Viking defender to jump offsides on a crucial 3rd-and-2 to set up Toothaker’s two-yard TD run that made it a two-possession game again with 6:28 left. Arthur Trask sealed the win with an interception of Ryerson with 4:17 to go.