LISBON FALLS – Year after year, the Lisbon Greyhounds graduate players just like every high school football team in the state. But the graduation cycle at Lisbon has little effect on the end result. Coach Dick Mynahan and his staff fill the voids, struggle early in the season and then build momentum toward the playoffs.

Saturday that momentum train rolled on as the Greyhounds dominated the scrappy Traip Rangers with a 28-0 shutout at Thompson Field.

It was a textbook Lisbon football performance which has become late-season déj vu to the other teams in the Campbell Conference.

Senior quarterback Mike Unterkoefler led the way for the hard-charging Greyhounds (5-3) by efficiently connecting on 13-of-17 passes for 216 yards. He also had three touchdown passes as he picked apart the Traip secondary with precision.

“We were missing three linebackers (to injury),” said Traip coach Ron Ross. “(Passing the ball) was one thing we were hoping they weren’t going to do. They did a great job of exploiting us.”

Unterkoefler’s favorite receiver was junior Nate Blackwell, who caught five passes for 58 yards.

Unterkoefler would bring the Traip secondary up toward the line of scrimmage by finding Blackwell wide open on a square-out pattern to the right side of the field.

Then came the home run ball.

Late in the first quarter, Unterkoefler hit Blackwell for a 13-yard gain. One play later, he rolled right and hurled a deep pass to Scott Eck (four catches for 65 yards), who was 10 yards behind the secondary, for a 44-yard score.

With 20 seconds remaining in the first half, Unterkoefler hit Andy Ouellette in stride at the 10-yardline for a 42-yard touchdown.

“Mike passed the ball well today,” said Mynahan. “He’s been getting better and better each week, but the difference is that kids are holding on to the ball. We weren’t doing that earlier in the season.”

In the third quarter, Unterkoefler found a wide-open Jake Cyr down the middle on a pop pass with the defense shifted over toward Blackwell. Cyr went untouched for a 24-yard score.

“Our receivers did a great job,” said Unterkoefler. “This was the best game they had all year. They ran great patterns and made the catches.”

The Greyhounds capped the scoring on a 37-yard burst up the middle by Josh Cote. They picked up 145 yards on the ground and only committed one turnover.

Traip (2-6) was held to just seven first downs and 148 total yards.

Despite their record, the Rangers have been tough defensively. They had given up an average of 11 points over the past four weeks.

But it’s now late October and the Greyhounds, are suddenly clicking on all cylinders.

“Our defense prides itself on not giving up 28 points,” said Ross. “They were better than advertised.”