PARIS — The Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School football team has come a long way already this season, just in the sheer number of players who’ve suited up to play for the Vikings.

Mt. Blue gave them a taste Friday of how far they still have to go.

After a tough opening week against Messalonskee and with a handful of key players sidelined with injuries, Mt. Blue showed no mercy, unleashing a three-headed monster on offense and adding a defensive touchdown for good measure in a 30-0 win at the Don Gouin Athletic Complex.

“I honestly thought we played well last week,” Mt. Blue Gary Parlin said. “We were down at the end of the game. But our younger guys, especially our receivers, played well in both games.”

Parlin’s Cougars (1-1) have 26 sophomores on their roster and 17 juniors, against just eight seniors. They all played beyond their years Friday.

“We have a lot of good, young talent stepping up and playing good, varsity football,” Parlin said.

The Mt. Blue offensive attack featured three distinct entities, all key in making the other effective. On the ground, seven different Cougars pounded out 188 yards on 41 carries. Through the air, senior Ryan Backus effectively used both the short ball and deep ball to his full advantage, hitting A.J. Larrabee for strikes of 17, 31 and 45 yards, while scattering four other completions to three other receivers inside of 10 yards.

“We had no answer for that short zone curl,” Oxford Hills coach Nate Danforth said. “Lewiston tried to stretch us out last week, and I thought they exposed underneath pretty well. I thought we’d fixed that this week in practice. We tried to put some things in to prevent that, but it obviously didn’t work.”

Danforth said after the game he was more upset about his team’s demeanor and apparent lack of effort than he was about the final result.

“They drove the ball all night, and we couldn’t find an answer,” Danforth said. “What was missing tonight was heart. That’s it. Xs- and Os-wise we were where we were supposed to be, but we weren’t tackling; we didn’t have much heart tonight. I don’t know where it went.”

Mt. Blue didn’t waste much time going to work on the Vikings’ defense, driving 66 yards on nine plays in 4:32 to open the game. Sophomore Cam Sennick capped the drive with a 12-yard scamper over the left side of the line.

During the next Mt. Blue drive, on the first play from scrimmage, the Vikings’ faithful held their collective breath as junior Dan Taylor went for a tackle on a run around the right end and fell to the turf. He lay motionless for several minutes and was finally hoisted on a backboard onto a waiting stretcher, still in his full gear.

Following the game, observers were overheard saying that Taylor was moving all of his limbs, and “would be OK.”

Two plays later, Backus hit Larrabee on a 45-yard out-and-up on the right sideline for a touchdown. The two-point conversion was good and the Cougars took a 14-0 lead.

“Taylor is a great kid,” Danforth said. “He’s one of those guys, when the seniors maybe start getting a bit down, he’s that guy to pick us all up. I hope he’s going to be OK.”

The teams ground to halt for most of the remainder of the opening half. The Vikings tried a pass play late in the half, and Mt. Blue linebacker Brandon Scott read it perfectly, returning the ball 37 yards for a late score.

Junior Matt Davis added one more rushing touchdown in the third quarter to finish the scoring.