DIXFIELD — Had Spencer Ross taken one simple handoff into the end zone Saturday afternoon, the Dirigo High School junior would have achieved football’s equivalent of hitting for the cycle. But he’ll happily settle for a hat trick.

Ross reeled in a touchdown reception, ran back a punt in head-spinning fashion and plucked a pick-six in the secondary, inflicting half of top-seeded Dirigo’s damage in a 42-8 Western Class C quarterfinal rout of No. 8 Maranacook at Harlow Park.

It was the first-ever postseason victory for Dirigo (9-0), whose four state championships from 1962 to 1975 were won before the playoff era.

“Two points or 30 points, (the margin of victory) doesn’t matter. It feels great,” said Dirigo quarterback Nic Crutchfield.

Dirigo hosts No. 4 Winthrop next Saturday. The Cougars fell at home to Lisbon in last year’s semifinals, which was their first playoff appearance since resurrecting the football program.

Saturday’s bottom line was never in doubt, although Dirigo nursed a precarious 7-0 lead until exploding for four touchdowns in the final 3:45 of the first half.

Tyler Chiasson capped an 11-play drive with a 3-yard plunge to start building the snowball. Chiasson accumulated half his team-high 82 yards on that series, alone.

“We didn’t come out throwing,” said Dirigo coach Doug Gilbert. “I thought they would anticipate that we’d come out throwing, and we ran the ball well.”

Maranacook gambled on fourth-and-7 from its own 40 and saw James Mrazik’s pass fall incomplete. Dirigo delivered the knockout punch on the next play, when Crutchfield (7-for-12, 119 yards) spiraled the ball over three sets of outstretched Maranacook hands to Ross in the back of the end zone.

An intentional grounding penalty forced the Black Bears to punt from the shadow of their goalposts on the next series. Ross cradled the kick on the fly, spun backwards away from one Maranacook pursuer, then froze another by stopping on a dime and reversing direction. 

By the time Ross completely crossed the field and narrowly averted several more diving tries at a tackle, he covered nearly 100 yards of real estate in what was officially a 39-yard TD.

“We just made big plays. The line stepped up big time and gave Nic time to throw on that first touchdown,” Ross said. “On that punt, there were a bunch of big blocks.”

Crutchfield’s second interception of Mrazik set up the final TD of the half and Dirigo’s third in a stretch of 1:39. Quickly shifting from safety to QB, Crutchfield sidestepped a rush, rolled to his right and connected with a wide-open Alex Miele from 26 yards out.

Eric Bolduc booted the fifth of his six perfect extra-point tries for a 35-0 halftime lead.

“I didn’t expect it to be 7-0 with only a few minutes left in the half,” said Crutchfield, who ran for a 5-yard TD in the first quarter. “That was kind of scary. It’s not a good feeling.”

Ross applied the finishing touches with 4:38 left in the game, catching Mrazik’s floater in the left flat on the fly and covering 27 yards untouched.

“That one, I just read the quarterback easily,” Ross said.

Mrazik was 4-for-20 through the air.

Crutchfield and Ross combined to limit Maranacook’s 6-foot-8 tight end, Ben Johnson, to two catches for 40 yards. Miele also helped get Johnson off his game by bumping him at the line of scrimmage.

“We had to make an adjustment and put Nic deep on him, because Spencer is only 5-foot-nothing,” Gilbert said. “Those two guys gave us a good over-and-under on Johnson.”

Sophomore Luke Emery led Maranacook (4-5) with 23 carries for 101 yards and crossed the 1,000-yard threshold for the season. Erik Ogren broke up the shutout, barreling for a 5-yard TD with 46 seconds left. Emery rushed for the two-point conversion.

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