LISBON FALLS — Mike McNamara predicted the outcome of the first half’s penultimate play from Lisbon’s defensive huddle.

“”Me and one of the other outside linebackers, (Matt) Nicholson, are always talking about who’s going to get the first interception,” McNamara said. “In the huddle, I was like,` ‘Watch this. Same play, other way.”

McNamara diagnosed Boothbay’s play perfectly, picked off the pass and returned it for a touchdown that was the exclamation point on a dominant first half for Lisbon in its 47-0 route of Boothbay Saturday at Thompson Field.

McNamara and Zack Splude scored two touchdowns apiece for the unbeaten Greyhounds (3-0), while the defense extended its shutout streak to 12 quarters. With Mountain Valley surrendering six points in a win over Wells Friday night, Lisbon is one of only two teams in the state yet to be scored upon this season.

“We’ve got one of the best defenses within the conference, within the state,” said senior linebacker Nick Dingley. “I saw the other day that it was Mountain Valley, Cape (Elizabeth) and us that were the only ones that haven’t been scored on yet. It’d be pretty cool if we were the only team in the state that hasn’t had a touchdown scored on us.”

Thanks to the defense’s stinginess, the offense got all the points the Greyhounds needed on a fake punt on their first possession.

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On 4th-and-8, McNamara lined up to kick, but noticed a mismatch in the Seahawks’ formation and audibled a fake. The senior running back/linebacker took the snap, immediately ran toward the left sideline, cut back to the middle of the field behind a Ryan Riordan block and raced to the end zone for a 41-yard touchdown.

“We’ve been working on fake punts, a couple of different ones, in practice,” McNamara said. “We were watching (film) last night how they overload the right-hand side and they overload the line, so once they did that, I just called (it) and ran it to the left.”

“When he made (the call), I was a little surprised, but happy with the result,” Lisbon coach Dick Mynahan said. “That’s what you do in there. You take a chance sometimes, and that’s the fun part of playing football.

On Boothbay’s next series, Tobey Harrington recovered a fumble at the Seahawks’ 40. Seven plays later, Splude scored his first touchdown on a five-yard run.

Boothbay (0-3) drove into Greyhound territory on the next possession, but McNamara stopped QB Chad Carroll on 4th-and-1 to turn the ball over on downs. The Greyhounds, helped by a roughing the passer the penalty, marched 56 yards and made it 20-0 early in the second quarter on Luke Caron’s QB keeper from two yards out.

Splude capped a seven-play, 56-yard drive with an eight-yard TD run in which he made a nice second effort near the goal line to  make it 27-0.

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“I don’t really get that many carries. I just do my job and do what I can do,” said Splude, who scored on two of his three carries for the day. “I mostly block, and when I get it, I just run hard.”

Rather than run out the clock with 13 seconds left in the half and starting at their own 15, the Seahawks elected to try a pass play on first down, which fell incomplete. McNamara anticipated the same play on second down, stepped in front of Carroll’s intended receiver at the 21 and ran untouched into the end zone to make it 33-0 with one tick remaining on the clock.

“They did it to the left the first time, then they tried to do a slant to the right the second time,” McNamara said. “I just figured it was going to happen because they were open the first time. I just guessed the play right.”

Boothbay’s defense did a good job containing Lisbon’s leading rusher, Tobey Harrington (nine carries, 32 yards) in the first half, but McNamara, Splude and Pomerleau picked up the slack, tallying 111 yards on 12 rushes in just one half of football.

“When Tobey’s not running, he’s a heck of a blocker,” Mynahan said. “He always makes it a little bit easier for other guys.”

The Seahawks couldn’t stop Harrington on the second half’s opening kickoff, which the senior fielded at his own 23 and ran all the way back, 76 yards, for a touchdown and a 40-0 Greyhound lead. Shawn Avery added Lisbon’s final touchdown on a 2-yard run late in the third quarter.

The Greyhounds pulled their starters midway through the third quarter, but the Seahawks kept their first team in against the second unit in hopes of getting on the board. They appeared to be on the verge late in the fourth quarter, driving to the way to Lisbon’s 10 yard-line. On 4th-and-4, however, Brandon Hovey stuffed Nick Timberlake in the backfield to preserve the shutout.

“Like I told my team, I was happy that the second team didn’t let them score, but I was probably more happy with the first team for not shouting on the sidelines ‘We want a shutout, we want a shutout,” Mynahan said. “These kids (on the second team), like everybody on our team, have earned the opportunity to play, and if the other team scores, that’s fine. As long as we’re working hard and trying.”


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