It’s much more fun being the hammer than the nail.

Poland put a giant exclamation point at the end of its Western Class C football debut Friday night, storming to a 40-12 victory over Sacopee Valley in South Hiram.

The margin was one of the most lopsided in school history, and frankly there haven’t many wins for comparison’s sake. Poland finished below .500 every autumn of its eight-year run in Class B.

“We have quite a bit of speed. We have some smart kids. And we didn’t fumble the ball six times like we have in the past,” said Ted Tibbetts, the Knights’ first-year coach.

Poland turned it over only once, and that miscue came in the fourth quarter with reserves in the game and the issue out of hand.

Christian Hanscom rushed for 157 yards and three touchdowns to pace Poland. He had a fourth touchdown — on a reception from Tony Whalen — disallowed due to a clipping penalty.

Whalen and Everett Bertrand also scored for Poland, which has won three of its past four games since an 0-6 start in 2010.

The Knights kept the flexbone — or “triple option” — offense introduced by previous coach Mark Soehren, now a teacher and an assistant coach at Oxford Hills.

Poland players attended a summer camp conducted by coaches from the U.S. Naval Academy, one of the most prolific practitioners of that offense at the collegiate level.

“Part of (Friday’s efficiency) might be repetition, but maybe it’s just emphasis,” Tibbetts said. “We’ve harped on it long enough. We have kids who stay after practice to work and fix things that were problems in the past.”

All that positive energy should translate into a record crowd Friday night, when Poland hosts Maranacook for the first night game in its history.

Ceremonies include a tailgate party, complete with pulled pork sandwiches, beginning at 4 p.m.

“It’s going to be an exciting night,” Tibbetts said.

Dogged by injuries

That old superstition about bad things coming in threes? Lisbon coach Dick Mynahan and sophomore Quincy Thompson hope it doesn’t apply to them.

One week ago, Thompson had never played quarterback in his life. As of now, he’s the only healthy signal caller in the Greyhounds’ camp after freakishly twin injuries both to starter Ryan Riordan and his replacement, Zack Splude.

Riordan broke his throwing hand in Lisbon’s August 26 exhibition game. Mynahan said that Splude likely fractured his right hand during Saturday’s fourth quarter of a 24-14 victory at Oak Hill.

“I think he might have played for a while with it on defense,“ Mynahan said. “He came out for the last couple series. He’s a big defensive player for us.”

Splude threw for 106 yards in his ill-fated reserve role, including a 42-yard touchdown to Cam Graf.

The good news for Lisbon: Thompson already was taking two-thirds of the snaps before Splude’s injury, proving himself a quick study in the direct snap “wildcat” formation.

Thompson and Mason Haley each had a long scoring run out of that look.

“He played quarterback for the first time out there, and you know what? He made a couple of mistakes, but he did a really nice job,” Mynahan said. “First time out, no experience from last year, you can’t complain.”

Raiders shortchanged

Saturday’s 80-degree temperatures would have been tough enough for any team to handle.

Unlike almost every other team in the state, Oak Hill didn’t even have the chance to play a true exhibition game and get acclimated to summer conditions.

Oak Hill had its dress rehearsal against Sacopee Valley postponed. The Hawks have only 19 players and elected to concentrate on staying healthy for the regular season.

“It’s the second time in three years,“ Oak Hill coach Dave Wing said. “Two years ago it rained like crazy and Bill (Fairchild, Oak Hill’s former athletic director) didn’t want to play Freeport. Now this. We didn’t have a chance to get the bugs out.”

Maine Principals Association rules limit every team to one controlled scrimmage on the second Monday of practice, followed the next two weekends by a single exhibition game and the regular-season opener.

Lights, not enough action

Just about everything went perfectly for Dirigo High School’s first Friday night football game at Harlow Park.

Everything, that is, except three quarters of the football game and the final result, a tough 21-20 loss to Freeport.

The emotion of playing its first game under the lights quickly subsided for Dirigo as a fumble deep in its own end led to an early score for Freeport. The Cougars regained momentum with a dominant second quarter to take a 20-14 lead, but a series of mistakes in the second half stymied the offense and allowed Freeport to pull out the win late.

“The turnovers and penalties killed us,” Dirigo coach David Crutchfield said. “We had good field position and then we had a late hit that brought it back. We muffed a punt after that that put us in worse field position. There are a few things we need to work on.”

The Cougars had a number of bright spots, including the return of senior running back Bryan Blackman (17 carries, 78 yards) from an Achilles injury that forced him to the sidelines last season.

“He’s running tough. He’s 100 percent,” Crutchfield said. “Our line was giving some time. There are definitely a lot of positives. We’re just focusing on what we need to do to improve.”

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