DIXFIELD – There were rumors that the Lisbon football team couldn’t stack up, but players made the necessary adjustments and overcame adversity when the game was on the line.

Jake Cyr caught an 8-yard scoring pass and Nate Blackwell kicked the extra point with 4:21 remaining as Lisbon rallied for a 14-6 win against stubbon Dirigo in a Class C Campbell Conference contest at Harlow Park.

The game was expected to be physical, and it lived up to the billing. The Cougars held firm for over three quarters with a swarming defense that bottled up the Greyhound attack.

On the winning drive, Lisbon set up with a couple of short passes before quarterback Jim Unterkoefler found Cyr, who ran the final 40 yards untouched down the right side.

“All week long we heard that Dirigo was bigger than us,” Cyr said. “And we probably couldn’t stay with them. We wanted to prove everyone wrong. On the scoring play, I just thought of catching all those balls in practice.”

The Greyhounds took over possession of the ball at their own 30 and Unterkoefler rolled left and passed to Scott Eck for a first down. Two plays later, Unterkoefler received a high snap in the shotgun and fired a slant pass to Cyr.

Lisbon, the two-time defending state champions, shut out Dirigo 21-0 in 2006.

Dirigo took a 6-0 lead when fullback Kevin O’Leary (38 yards, nine rushes) scored on a four-yard run with 1:27 left in the third quarter. The drove 60 yards in six plays. The Cougars’ Dekota Holmquist (58 yards 11 rushes) had a 26-yard run to set up first and goal. The PAT attempt by Tyler Chassion fell shy of the crossbar.

Dirigo was unable to gain yards in the fourth quarter, and Guy Jenkins (two interceptions) picked quarterback Nic Crutchfield (5 of 15, 44 yards, two int.), who was making his first varsity start, deep in Cougar territory.

“We adjusted by (crashing) our ends in, in the fourth quarter,” Cyr said.

Unterkoefler scored on a one-yard keeper with 2:00 left.

The first half ended in a stalemate as neither team was able to take advantage of good field position. The teams traded fumbles on successive plays. The Dirigo line, led by ends O’Leary and Josh Jean, and tackles Cam Chartier and Arthur Manzer, held firm and the linebackers cleaned up. The Cougars’ Derek Daley and Garret Flagg each recovered fumbles and Crutchfield had an interception.

The Cougars had had 151 rushing yards, while Cyr (47 yards) and Josh Cote (41) led the Greyhounds.

“We are a young team (five seniors),” Lisbon coach Dick Mynahan said “Mistakes were made and Dirigo was bigger than us, but in the end the kids found a way to make the plays. We knew coming in that it had to be a total team effort and that is what we received.”

Lisbon, 14-6

Lisbon 0 0 0 14-6

Dirigo 0 0 6 0-6

Third quarter

D- K O’Leary 4 run kick failed

Fourth quarter

L Cyr 58 yd pass from Unterkoefler (Blackwell kick

l- Unterkoefler 1 run (Blackwell kick

D- Lisbon Dirigo

First downs..7 10

Rushes-net yards73-16 151–35

Pssing yards.. 111 44

Passing att-comp-int..184 195

Total yards..7-17-1 5-15-2

Fumbles-lost6-3 -5-2

Punts-ave ………… 6-33 5-37 .

Pentalities-yards.2-20 3-20