WINSLOW – Swallowing breakfast whole, scurrying to a first-period class, hurriedly putting on the pads and enduring a one-hour bus ride aren’t optimum conditions for a football playoff game.

Let’s be frank, though: There isn’t any such animal as a great time to play Winslow this fall. Leavitt took its rain-delayed shot and put up a better fight than just about everyone else in the Pine Tree Conference, moving the chains consistently Monday but never cashing in until the waning moments of a 38-6 Eastern Class B quarterfinal defeat.

Field position was the dominant story line in a game that you needed either banker’s hours or a note from your mother to see. Winslow (8-1) had it; the Hornets didn’t.

Seventh-seeded Leavitt (4-5) actually outgained the Black Raiders in the first half. Every big play went Winslow’s way, however. Stephen Siviski tossed two long touchdown passes to Justin Lindie and James Wood in the first quarter, and Lindie covered 56 yards on a highlight-film punt return where he covered twice that much real estate to give No. 2 Winslow a 21-0 halftime lead.

Leavitt orchestrated 10 offensive series on a windswept afternoon. Best starting field position: Its own 32-yard line, midway through the fourth quarter.

“Their kicker (Ben Poulin) was a big advantage for them,” said Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway. “He put us in some spots where we had a much longer field to drive.”

In addition to his booming kickoffs and five extra points, Poulin booted a 35-yard field goal in the third quarter.

Siviski and John Goulette also rushed for second-half touchdowns.

“It’s different,” Siviski said of christening the playoffs on a school day, thanks to Saturday’s gully washer that rendered Gerry Poulin Memorial Field and just about every other gridiron in the state unplayable. “It was nice to have a relaxing weekend, but you couldn’t really get focused on the game because you had to think about being in school on Monday morning. Once the game started, it was all about football.”

In the small consolations department, only three league rivals have held the explosive Black Raiders to fewer than 50 points in a game this season. The Hornets did it twice, including a 44-8 loss on Sept. 1, but they were far better equipped to slow down Winslow’s option this time around.

Leavitt limited Lindie, Siviski, Goulette and Wood to a collective 42 yards in the first half. Missed tackles and assignments gave Winslow’s aerial attack a boost, however. The Hornets snuffed out Siviski’s swing pass to Lindie on third-and-11, but the 195-pound senior broke loose from a Leavitt defender at the line of scrimmage and weaved down the sideline for a 26-yard TD on Winslow’s first possession.

Nine productive plays moved Leavitt to the Winslow 34, but Siviski and Bryon Fogg collaborated to stop Jeff Newton for no gain on fourth-and-3.

“If they don’t stuff us there and we go down and score and make it 7-7, it might have been a little different story, at least for a while,” Hathaway said.

After hitting Kevin McCabe for 13 yards to extend a Winslow drive, Siviski located a wide-open Wood over the middle for a 50-yard TD on the next play. Poulin’s kick made it 14-0 with 2:16 remaining in the first quarter.

Lindie (141 all-purpose yards) delivered the decisive blow on special teams early in the second quarter. After catching Scott Redmun’s punt on the run and making a quick cut to his right, Lindie stopped on a dime just shy of the Leavitt sideline. He reversed direction and made liberal use of two crunching blocks on his circuitous route to the end zone.

“There was a wall on each side, and the one on the right started to collapse,” Lindie said, “so I went the other way.”

Junior quarterback Evan Barker completed 13-of-17 for 124 yards in a terrific effort for the Hornets. Sophomore Tyler Green combined for 94 yards as a runner and receiver.

Nate Harlow, one of 10 seniors playing his final game for Leavitt, grabbed a shovel pass from Barker and pushed a Winslow defender across the goal line for a 3-yard TD to break the shutout with 2:05 left.

Only four two-way starters will graduate from Leavitt next spring.

“If we commit ourselves to getting bigger and stronger in the off-season,” Hathaway said, “there is the potential for us to have a pretty good football team for the next few years.”