FREEPORT – The uniforms are the same color.

And that’s about where the similarities between Dirigo and Freeport’s football teams last season and this year end.

What was previously a two-hour exercise in watching hammer torture nail was an intriguing clash of two construction projects Saturday afternoon. Reigning Class C champion Dirigo extended its winning streak to 13 games, but not without a serious fight from the Falcons in a 25-12 verdict at Pownal Road Recreational Field.

“At the end of the season, nobody’s going to ask what the scores were,” said Dirigo coach Doug Gilbert. “We’ve just got to work at it, work at it, work at it. Get the butterflies out the first game and hopefully do better next week.”

Dirigo welcomed back only six seniors and six juniors who put their fingerprints on last season’s Gold Ball. They received a raucous wake-up call when Freeport’s Luke Lamagna raced 70 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage.

Lamagna book-ended the afternoon with a 60-yard TD scamper in the fourth quarter. In between, the Cougars took ample advantage of turnovers and short fields and gradually wore down the bigger Falcons.

It was a far cry from last year’s 74-6 shellacking in Dixfield, a demoralizing end to what was Freeport’s first varsity game.

“I didn’t think we had any advantage over them coming into it,” Freeport coach Rob Grover said. “We kept talking all week, ‘74-6. That’s not going to happen. 74-6.’ They just played their butts off. They wanted to win.”

The first of two fumble recoveries by sophomore Zach White put Dirigo in prime position to answer Lamagna’s opening haymaker.

Ben Holmes’ 13-yard connection with Justin Dowland on third-and-10 extended the ensuing drive. On the next play, Spencer Ross dragged two Falcons across the goal line from seven yards out. Dowland’s point after gave Dirigo the lead for good with 8:02 remaining in the first quarter.

Dirigo delivered its own quick strike after two holding penalties stymied a promising Freeport drive and forced a punt.

With Freeport playing a six-man front and its safety biting on a run play when the Cougars showed a spread formation, Holmes dropped back and found a wide-open Ross behind the secondary for a 70-yard TD.

“We were setting that up most of the week,” Ross said.

Good thing, because Dirigo enjoyed minimal success running between the tackles until later in the game against Freeport’s stingy Dan Burke, Jake Deppmeyer, Dave Hart and James Purdy.

The Falcons, by contrast, moved the chains consistently while operating with direct snaps to four different backs out of a wildcat formation.

Two Freeport drives ended without points deep in Dirigo territory in the second quarter. The Falcons fell inches short of the marker on a fake field goal, then later ran out of time after driving from their own 44 to the Dirigo 21 in the final 2:22.

“We’ve just got to go over the little things like the hurry-up offense, because they get lost,” Grover said. “Sometimes I think (our offense) is a little too much for the kids at times when they get in a critical situation, so maybe we’ve got to tone it down a little bit.”

White pounced on another bad snap just shy of the Freeport end zone to set up Holmes’ quarterback sneak for a 19-6 lead with 6:22 left in the third.

Freeport’s failed fake punt attempt provided Dirigo with another abbreviated scoring sojourn in the fourth.

Dirigo’s front five of Jake Dowland, Arik Fenstermacher, Jacob Weston, Thomas Barnett and Chad Cormier finally neutralized the wearying 295, 285 and 250-pound centerpieces of Freeport’s defensive line.

Justin Dowland cashed in with a 4-yard TD plunge.

In his first game as the successor to Fitzpatrick Trophy finalist Nic Crutchfield, the junior Holmes was an efficient 7-for-8 for 156 yards, finding five different receivers. Freeport sacked Holmes six times, four by Deppmeyer.

“My goal this year is to be half as good as Nic ever was,” Holmes said. “We had the jitters on the first play. Then we buckled down and we were good from there.”

Ross rolled up 122 all-purpose yards. Freeport’s Lamagna covered a game-high 174 yards on 11 carries.

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