MADISON – Three first- half turnovers spelled doom for the Oxford Hills in a 34-21 victory for Skowhegan Saturday night in a battle of winless Pine Tree Confeence teams.
Coming off an opening-night upset loss to Lawrence, Skowhegan (1-1) fed Oxford Hills (0-2) a steady diet of Aaron Chambers (18 carries, 172 yards, two touchdowns) in the first half and Lucas Cole (17 carries, 129 yards, two TDs) in the second half.
The Indians, who are playing their home games at Madison High School this year while their own new field takes root, ran through poor Viking tackling on their way to 333 yards on the ground and a 34-0 lead in the third quarter.
“We definitely made a big improvement,” said Skowhegan coach Mike Marston. “We faced a lot of adversity, and hopefully we can keep improving because Lewiston (next week’s opponent) is a fine football team and we’ve got to be ready for them.”
“The outphysicaled us in the first half, pushed us down the field, and we didn’t come back from it,” said Vikings coach Bob Austin. “I told the kids we’ve got to put together four quarters of good football, not just two.”
Jim Bower led the Vikings with 202 total yards, and he ran the ball well early as the Vikings put together an encouraging opening drive starting at their own 19. Chris McGrail brought it to an abrupt end, though, at the Skowhegan 29 snuffed when he sacked Ben Ryerson and forced a fumble recovered by teammate Greg Saydjari.
Six plays into the Indians’ ensuing possession, Chambers, who didn’t go down on a first hit all night, broke a couple of tackles at his own 30 and hit paydirt on a 34-yard TD run.
Skowhegan marched 72 yards on its next possession, as Chambers only needed to run it in from two yards out, then ran in the two-point conversion to make it 14-0.
Another fumble and then an interception stalled the Vikings’ next two forays into Skowhegan territory. The Indians eventually converted Chambers’ interception into a 20-0 lead at halftime on Mike LaCasse’s only pass of the game, an 11-yard TD strike to Josh Whiting,
Cole added touchdown runs of 61 and eight yards in the third quarter to put the game away. The Vikings, who moved the ball well fo much of the game behind Bower (118 yards rushing, 84 yards receiving), made the outcome more respectable with a one-yard TD run by Ben Ryerson, a nine-yard TD pass from Brower to Ryerson (8-of-17, 149 yards, two interceptions, one TD) and a fine 39-yard TD run by Brian Trudeau.
Skowhegan, 34-21
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