KITTERY — Having earned the role of spectator for the final five minutes Saturday afternoon, Lisbon High School senior running back Josh Pomerleau discussed his immediate plans for a post-game celebration aloud.
“I’m going to sleep the whole way home,” Pomerleau said.
That wasn’t as much an acknowledgement of the three-hour, round-trip bus ride to and from Traip Academy as an admission of his own rightful exhaustion.
Pomerleau rushed for one touchdown and delivered a key block to spring Tobey Harrington for a score, each in the second half.
Lisbon’s all-purpose backs also played their fair share of defense to protect a 20-0 Western Class C victory at Memorial Field, the Greyhounds’ fourth shutout of the season.
The Greyhounds (6-1) won the showdown without senior linebacker Mike McNamara, who is out with a concussion.
“We reminded everyone that he’s out and how much he loves to play defense,” Harrington said. “He’s our leader. We did it for him. We got the shutout, and we hadn’t had one of those in three weeks.”
One of McNamara’s two substitutes, sophomore Kyle Sheehan, forced a fumble that Chase Hunter recovered for Lisbon. The Greyhounds limited the Rangers (5-2) to 126 yards, all on the ground, and six first downs.
“They’re a big team, They’re a real strong team. I don’t know that we expected a shutout today,” said Lisbon coach Dick Mynahan. “They’ve been known for 50 and 60-yard runs, and we thought they might have a drive against us.”
Instead, it was the Greyhounds who dominated possession and churned out series after clock-chewing series.
Even when holding penalties stymied one march and a goal-line interception by Traip’s Matt Clifford interrupted another, Lisbon never lost its grip on the field position battle.
That played into the hands and feet of Harrington, Pomerleau and Zach Splude, who worked in harmony all afternoon. When one fielded a pitch and headed for daylight, the other two took on larger would-be tacklers and led Lisbon to even bigger yardage.
Harrington carried 22 times for 107 yards. Pomerleau tacked on 10 rushes for 88 more.
“It definitely is all about the blocking. The backs block good for each other,” Pomerleau said. “The line starts it out. It makes it possible for us to bounce through for a touchdown or get good yards.”
Running almost exclusively to the left side, Lisbon took 12 plays to gobble up 65 yards with its opening possession.
Splude ran six yards on a fake punt to keep the Greyhounds in business. Luke Caron converted a third down with a quarterback sneak before capping the drive in the same fashion from a yard out.
Harrington rushed for the two-point conversion and an 8-0 lead that held up until the closing stages of the third quarter.
“We played good today. I can’t say enough. If you haven’t been here before, you don’t know what it takes to win here,” said Traip coach Ron Ross, whose program already has clinched its first winning season and playoff berth since 1992. “I can’t wait until next time. It’s better to play for something than to play for nothing, I’ll tell you that right now.”
Lisbon held Traip to three-and-out after Clifford’s interception and took over after a Rangers punt at the Traip 25.
The Greyhounds needed only two plays to reach the end zone. Pomerleau ran into a huge gap off left tackle. Harrington and Splude provided a push downfield for good measure, with Harrington knocking 230-pound linebacker Tyler Nay off his feet.
“We did a lot of talking about that this week especially. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a back that blocks as well as Tobey,” Mynahan said. “It’s kind of too bad, because we can’t find somebody quite as good as him the way he runs the ball. But I thought today Zach Splude and Tobey together did some great blocking for Josh Pomerleau.”
Harrington received his reward with a matching 19-yard TD in the fourth quarter. Yes, you guessed it: Pomerleau and Splude ran interference.
Tommy Ginn rushed for 50 yards and Alex Gamester 47 to lead Traip.
“We didn’t know what it takes to play against a defense like that. They were shifting around. It’s like they were reading our snap counts,” said Ross. “Dick‘s a hell of a coach. He’s going to look over film, he’s going to scout you five games and he’s going to find your weaknesses. The coaching staff, the kids, we’ve never been in this spot before. It’s a learning experience.”
koakes@sunjournal.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Comments are no longer available on this story