WINTHROP – It doesn’t matter how good a football team you are. If you score more points in your first playoff game than you’ve given up all season, combined, it’s a weighty accomplishment.

Never getting a whiff of danger after Zach Farrington kicked a field goal to punctuate its first series Friday night, unbeaten Winthrop lashed Livermore Falls, 44-0, in a Western Class C semifinal played through the fog, drizzle and summery air of Maxwell Field.

Defense set the table and cooked the dinner for the offense. No. 1 Winthrop (10-0) forced five turnovers, scored a special teams touchdown and limited No. 4 Livermore Falls (5-5) to 54 total yards and three first downs. It was the Ramblers’ second shutout of the Andies in three weeks and their sixth of the season.

“They do a great job shutting down every offense we face,” said Winthrop quarterback Jordan Conant. “They cause a lot of turnovers. They’re just flying around smacking kids all the time. It’s fun to watch.”

Winthrop will host the Campbell Conference championship game for the second straight November and the fourth time in the last nine seasons. Today’s Dirigo-Lisbon winner makes the trip next Saturday.

Stars were many in all three phases of a stifling performance.

Skyler Whaley rushed for a pair of short touchdowns. Joe Morey reached the end zone from 34 yards out, Corey Harris from 24. Conant connected with Jason Raymond on a 28-yard touchdown pass immediately following a Josh Confer fumble recovery.

Jake Steele applied the chocolate sauce and the cherry – no, make that the celebratory candle – with a 74-yard punt return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

“It’s my birthday. I turned 18 today. I got a good present,” said Steele, who missed Winthrop’s run to the regional final last fall after shoulder surgery. “The first time we played Livermore without a doubt was our worst game we’ve played all season, and this one I feel like was probably one of our best.”

Winthrop rallied from a sluggish first half to a 16-0 win in the regular-season contest. This time, that 16-0 reading on the scoreboard represented the comfortable halftime margin.

The Andies made their deepest push of the game in the final minute of the half after recovering a muffed punt. Kevin Hart put a stop to that brief flirtation with Ramblers territory by pouncing on a fumbled exchange from center at the 26.

Livermore Falls’s first six possessions ended in a punt or a turnover. All five of the Andies’ five drives after intermission suffered the same fate.

“We’re giving up two or three points a game. That’s not bragging. That’s just kids playing good, fundamental football,” said Winthrop coach Joel Stoneton. “They’re sitting in our base (defense) and reading and doing great things. Everybody wants to be the playmaker.”

Steele, Hart, Confer, Whaley, Andrew Smithgall, Chris Minor and Cory Staples were repeat hitters defensively. Farrington added an interception.

Jeff Ryder picked up 36 of Livermore Falls’ yards on a third-quarter run. Three plays later, Winthrop jarred the ball from Chandler White’s hands and recovered it.

Winthrop rolled up 243 of its 307 yards on the ground.

“The seniors and the upperclassmen who have played a lot are basically saying we know what’s at hand here, and we’re not going to let it slip away by our doing,” Stoneton said. “If someone beats us, they beat us, but we’re not going to make mistakes to allow people in the game.”