TOPSHAM — Mt. Blue coach Gary Parlin hasn’t received any congratulatory gifts for picking up his 100th career win last week. He might settle for a bottle of antacid tablets for his 101st victory, though.

If Parlin decides an acceptance speech is in order, his defense will be at the top of his list of thank yous.

The Cougar defense made up for multiple offensive mistakes by forcing five turnovers, collecting four sacks, making a big goal-line stand and posting its second straight shutout in a 22-0 win over Mt. Ararat Friday night.

The win propels the Cougars to 3-0 for the first time since 2005. The Eagles drop to 0-3.

Led by Ethan Kyes (two sacks), Nick Luker, Nick Searles, Adam Lewia and Matt Archer, Mt. Blue’s defensive line overwhelmed Mt. Ararat in the trenches, pressuring Eagles QB Jake Liedman (4-for-14, 36 yards, three interceptions) to leave the pocket and/or rush numerous throws.

“The strength of our team is our defensive line and middle linebacker,” Parlin said. “We have, we believe, seven guys that can play those three tackle positions and coach (Peter) Franchetti rotates them in.”

“We practice getting to the quarterback in four seconds,” said Kyes, a senior defensive end. “We were pretty successful in practice this week and I just brought it out here onto the game field.”

The Cougars held a precarious 7-0 lead early in the third quarter when the defense came up with a huge goal-line stand, but not before catching some of the offense’s sloppiness that allowed McKenzie Gary (11 carries, 54 yards) to run through several arm tackles for a 41-yard gain before he was tackled by Cam Sennick (two interceptions) at the 1 yard line.

“At that point, we’re thinking we need to get the extra point block ready, but fortunately it worked out for us,” Parlin said. “We had a big play of first down and second down and then we made them throw.”

The middle of the Cougar line dropped Gary for a 2-yard loss on first down. Then Kyes and linebacker Colten Miranda tackled Derek True five yards deep in the backfield on second down to make it 3rd-and-goal from the 8. Two straight Liedman throw into the end zone fell incomplete to preserve the lead.

“We stepped it up. When it comes to the goal line we always step it up,” Kyes said. “We don’t want anyone scoring on us.”

“That’s a good football team making some stops there, and we’ve just got to learn to smell the goal line and get in,” Mt. Ararat coach Mark LaFountain.

A couple of bad snaps, two of several by the Cougars on the night, and a missed catch on a punt return by Sennick kept the ball deep in Mt. Blue territory. The defense, thanks to shared sacks by Kyes and Shawn Keach and then Kyes and Searles, kept the Eagles at bay the rest of the quarter.

The Cougars finally found some breathing room early in the fourth quarter. A pass interference penalty on the Eagles helped an eight-play, 64-yard drive capped by a 2-yard TD run by Izaiha Tracy (16 carries, 53 yards) and a two-point pass from Jordan Whitney to Zak Kendall made it 15-0 with 6:38 to go.

A Mt. Ararat fumble at midfield and a 49-yard pass from Whitney (8-for-14, 160 yard, TD) to Kyes set up the Cougars’ final score, a one-yard sneak by Whitney with six minutes remaining.

Mt. Blue’s offense got off to a good start, scoring on its first possession when Sennick took a shovel pass from Whitney 16 yards for a touchdown.

The defense limited the Eagles to 37 total yards in the first half and Whitney completed his first six passes to get them into Ararat territory on four of its five first-half possessions. But the Cougars couldn’t get much going on the ground in the first half, and seven penalties and numerous snaps over Whitney’s head kept pushing them back. A blocked 28-yard field goal attempt by Keach in the second quarter also kept the Eagles within a touchdown.

“Our offensive line is still not quite clicking,” Parlin said. “We’ve got good players there. At some point, they’re going to start clicking.”