WINSLOW — Fifty-six points have weighed down one side of the scoreboard at Gerry Poulin Memorial Field plenty of times over the years. Just never on the guests’ side.

Leavitt Area High School clinched home field advantage throughout the Eastern Class B football playoffs and handed Winslow High School the most lopsided loss in school history, 56-0, in a Saturday shellacking that left the shoes feeling a smidgen tight on the home coaching staff’s feet.

The final horn sounded after Winslow fell a yard shy of moving the chains for only the third time all afternoon. Leavitt (7-0) lined up at midfield for the traditional postgame handshake, only to see the Black Raiders ordered to run through the gate and back to their locker room without acknowledging the Hornets.

It was a mystifying scene, considering that Leavitt substituted liberally and threw only one pass that was not a shovel or screen in the entire second half. The snubbed Hornets’ supporters also recalled being on the receiving end of similar beatings from the team in black-and-orange in the past.

To a man, Leavitt steered clear of the controversy.

“You have to approach every opponent like they’re the best team in the league,” said senior defensive back Cam Griffin, whose Hornets chalked up their second straight shutout and third overall and have outscored their foes 364-66.

In a classy gesture, Winslow players went to the Leavitt locker room to congratulate the Hornets after the game. Winslow parents also brought food to the visitors, according to a Leavitt assistant coach.

As further evidence that the Hornets made every effort not to belabor the point, six different players scored a touchdown. Josh Strickland, arguably the league’s top running back, scored on a 22-yard run and a 10-yard reception in the third quarter before sitting out the fourth.

Strickland finished one yard shy of the century mark. Quarterback Eric Theiss led the Hornets on the ground with 12 carries for 129 yards and a TD. Theiss was brilliant through the air, as well, completing 12-of-13 for 119 yards and three scores.

“We play hard every game,” Theiss said. “I think we deserved it, and I think the rest of the season should go well if we play this hard.”

Leavitt limited Winslow (3-4) to 72 net yards.

The Black Raiders’ only foray past midfield lasted all of roughly five seconds, when Cody Souviney fired a halfback option pass to Kris Smith late in the first half. Lucas Witham jarred the ball loose and into the hands of Jason Fisher, who returned the fumble 39 yards to the Winslow 24.

Theiss promptly completed a 14-yarder to Griffin and a 10-yard TD strike to Ryan Labbe. Nick Urquhart, a perfect 8-for-8 kicking extra points, made it 28-0 at the half.

“At the beginning of the year people talked a lot about our offense,” Griffin said. “We knew we had to work hard to make sure our defense was up where our offense would be.”

Winslow kept it scoreless for most of the first quarter with the help of a goal-line stand. Ross Vernon and Larry MacDonald’s consecutive stops of Strickland stifled a 13-play Leavitt march at the 1.

Three plays netted only three yards, however, and Jordan Hersom’s 20-yard punt return set up a 4-yard TD rush by Jon Letourneau.

“We try to mix it up on offense. We’ve got a lot of guys who can make plays,” said Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway. “They made a great stop down there. We knew they were going to come out fired up for Senior Day and all that jazz.”

Luke Wiley recovered a fumble to set up the first of Hersom’s two TD runs, a 14-yard scamper.

Theiss tossed an 18-yard TD to Witham to make it 21-0.

“There’s not much to comment,” said Winslow coach Mike Siviski. “It is what it is. They’ve got an excellent team.”

Long TD runs by Theiss (27 yards) and Hersom (31) applied the exclamation point in the fourth quarter.

Jake Ouellette also pounced on a fumble for Leavitt.

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