FARMINGTON – For a while – for most of the first half, really – the Mt. Blue offense appeared doomed to the same fate it had suffered a week earlier in Lewiston. The team gained yards, but scoring was another matter.

Coach Gary Parlin knows a thing or two about halftime adjustments, though.

And then there was senior back Mike Toothaker, who seemed to all at once figure out the Cony defense early in the second half.

The Cougars put any hopes of a Rams’ upset to bed with two quick strikes in the third quarter and eased home with a 40-12 victory at Caldwell Field on Friday night.

“We have a pretty good running back here,” quipped Mt. Blue coach Gary Parlin. “Really, though. Derek Burnham came in to play guard in the second half, and he was one of the big differences. We ran to the right behind him and Eric Gilbert.”

“In the first half, I had to swing everything to the outside and they were coming in the middle,” said Toothaker. “In the second half, we got on the lineman, they did their job and we were able to establish our running game.”

Toothaker capped another solid night with 227 yards on 23 carries and four touchdowns. His second run of the second half went for 42 yards and a touchdown. He set up another strike later in the third quarter on his next run – a 49-yard scamper up the right sideline to the Cony eight yard line.

In the first half, save for a Mt. Blue touchdown on its first possession, the Rams (0-3) held their own. They nearly tied the game on their first drive, but Matt Rende fumbled the ball at the goal line as he dove toward the end zone. Justin Brooks scooped up the loose ball and chugged 94 yards. He was brought down at the Cony 6-yard-line and set up Mt. Blue’s second score.

“We really enjoyed the first half,” said Cony coach Tom Hinds. “We did really well to come back after that 90-yard fumble recovery where we would have made it 7-7, and then to come back and score one, that was really well done after not having scored this year.”

Cony scored its first points of the season in the second quarter, ending a 116-minute scoring drought. Andrew Pullen picked off a pass by Mt. Blue quarterback Joe Gilbert and returned the ball 36 yards to the Cougars’ 19. Two plays later, Greg O’Neill blasted through the line for a touchdown to pull Cony to within eight at 14-6.

“They have two really good down tackles that were penetrating and forcing everything back,” said Parlin. “We’re a downhill running team, just like everyone else, and they were doing a good job stopping that.”

Toothaker and the rest of the Mt. Blue offense took over after the break, scoring three times in the third quarter to take a commanding 34-6 edge. The Cougars’ second string offense added to the team’s total in the fourth on a Shane Luker run, and Cony added a second touchdown with 1:20 to play on an Andrew Busque run.