By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

PORTLAND – So-called sports widows have long lamented the true length of two minutes in a sporting event. Factor in time for usual stoppages in play, timeouts, beer commercials and quantitative analysis, and reality dictates that those two minutes take a half-hour.

That gives us a vastly different frame of reference for weighing what Lisbon High School’s Class C championship defense truly accomplished at the end of its season.

Lisbon’s front five, linebackers and secondary didn’t experience the indignity of watching the opponent celebrate a touchdown at their expense for the final 21 quarters.

Multiply that number by the 12-minute quarters that prevail in the high school pigskin realm and your head should spin. Two hundred fifty-two minutes ticked away without Lisbon letting foreign cleats besmirch the end zone sod. For the record, Brad Loon of Jay was the last foe to trespass, at the end of a 50-yard scoring strike from Mike Nemi on Oct. 14.

Even though high school games are mercifully free from John Madden and the Coors Light Twins, four hours of football time is an eternity in the wide-eyed world of 16- and 17-year-olds. And four yards, apparently, is equivalent to the distance around that world. That’s the amount of Fitzpatrick Stadium real estate Lisbon’s defense protected in the final 90 seconds Saturday night to preserve a 12-7 victory over Foxcroft Academy and secure the school’s ninth state title. Foxcroft scored its only touchdown on an 85-yard punt return in the second quarter.

“It was one, last, big goal-line stand,” said Lisbon coach Dick Mynahan. “We’ve had a lot of those this year.”

Yes, it was, and yes, they did.

Throw out three touchdowns surrendered in a six-hour, round-trip excursion to Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln for a non-conference game, dismiss the Nemi-to-Loon bomb, and the Greyhounds let only two plays slip away in the red zone all season.

Boothbay enjoyed a 3-yard touchdown run at Lisbon’s expense. Madison pounded its way past the white chalk line from a yard out.

That was it, with six shutouts underscoring one of the stingiest defensive seasons in Maine football history.

Lisbon didn’t dominate without overcoming the requisite injuries, ineligibility and personnel turnover from the previous season. Josh Stevens and Matt Powell, two of the starting linemen in Saturday’s final, didn’t play football in 2004. They enjoyed cohesive company up front in Mark Stambach, Nick Harmon and 6-foot-5, 280-pound Ivy League prospect Elijah Trefts.

Jesse Moan and Dan Willis emerged as the top linebacker tandem in the Class C division of the Campbell Conference, while another Division I prototype, Levi Ervin, anchored a senior-laden secondary with Nick Adams, Chris Brunick and Andrew Dubois.

“Those were the kind of stops we made all year,” Trefts said of the game-ending shutdown of Foxcroft. “We were a total team. It was never just one or two people. There were people on the field all the time who didn’t even play football last year.”

Foxcroft scorched the sky with over 200 yards passing, but in the end, Trefts led a run-stuffing resistance that held the Ponies under triple digits on the ground.

As if the Greyhounds needed any additional fire, they found it from a familiar face on their sideline. John Murphy, the assistant coach who has been Mynahan’s sidekick throughout his 18-year tenure, has announced his retirement.

Murphy concealed the information from much of the public, including the media, during the season because he didn’t want to take away attention from the team.

“The guy just oozes class,” said Lisbon co-curricular coordinator Jeff Ramich.

“We promised him we’d get him a Gold Ball,” said Jesse Walker, a senior two-way lineman. “What better way to end it?”

Yeah, and in a fashion even a football Mom could love: Without a word from our sponsor.