JAY – When your school is known for basketball, wrestling, baseball and soccer – arguably in that order – not even the resident experts profess to be fountains of knowledge about football history.

“I don’t know the last time Dirigo beat Lisbon and Jay in the same year,” Dirigo coach Doug Gilbert shouted over the beaming faces and rain-soaked jerseys in his team’s post-game huddle Friday night.

Brief silence.

“2008!” Josh Palmer hollered back.

Palmer did his part to etch the Cougars’ return to the Class C football map in irreversible red ink, carrying 34 times for 136 yards and a touchdown in a 27-6 win over Jay at Taglienti Field.

It didn’t look or feel that close.

Nic Crutchfield threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Chiasson in the second quarter. Dirigo marched 59 yards in eight plays with the second-half kickoff, capped by Crutchfield’s 2-yard sneak.

Special teams were responsible for the final two Dirigo scores. Arik Fenstermacher rambled 18 yards with a fumble when the Cougars flattened Jay punter Kyle DeMillo after a bad snap. Alex Miele’s 63-yard punt return to the 5 set up Palmer’s 3-yard TD surge.

Oh, and to help finish Gilbert’s initial thought, Dirigo downed Lisbon 28-6 and Jay 15-7 back in 1983. Six years later, the school in Dixfield dropped football for a decade.

Dirigo also won here in 2006.

“We got beat. They were the better team tonight, no question,” said Jay coach Mark Bonnevie. “We had a hard time getting them out of their game plan.”

The Cougars won the time of possession battle by more than six minutes, converting a staggering nine third downs. Dirigo also cashed both Jay turnovers into points.

Miele’s interception of Austin Clark with 7:27 remaining in the second led to Crutchfield’s connection with fellow junior Chiasson for the only points of the half.

“They faked it the wrong way, everybody went that way, and it worked out better than if they’d run what I called,” Gilbert said. “Three years ago when I took over, they wouldn’t have been able to do that. They’re starting to understand the offense.”

More devastating to the Tigers was Dirigo’s extended march to christen the second half.

Jay jumped offsides on third-and-3 to help the Cougars cross midfield and extend the drive. Crutchfield located Chiasson in the right flat for 19 yards on the next play. Otherwise, Dirigo dished out a steady diet of Palmer, who barreled ahead six times for 33 yards on the series.

“I love it. Whatever I can do for the team,” said Palmer, who at six feet, 175 pounds roughly matches three-fifths of his offensive line in size. “We’re on a roll. We hit hard and we’re technical. We’re not a big team.”

Gilbert moved fullbacks Keith Langervin and Jake Dowland to tackle prior to Dirigo’s opening-week road win at Lisbon.

Add guards Fenstermacher and Mason Cote and center Jacob Weston and the front five average about 191 pounds. Langervin is the lone senior.

“That quickness is exactly what we haven’t had in the past,” Gilbert said. “I have a couple of 300-pounders that I thought about putting at tackle, but not tonight.”

The Cougars were just as cat-like against Jay’s spread offense, stifling Clark and halfback Miles Hutchinson at the point of attack. Hutchinson logged 66 of his 112 yards on a run in the final two minutes, setting up freshman QB Zach Bonnevie’s 4-yard TD pass to DeMillo.

“It’s pretty amazing,” Miele said. “We shut them down. They couldn’t do anything.”