WINTHROP— There’s not much Bryan Blackman didn’t do Friday night. The senior tailback carried the offensive load for the Dirigo Cougars in a wild 36-30 win over the Winthrop Ramblers.

Blackman ran for 212 yards and three touchdowns and added a 53-yard touchdown catch late in the game. But it wasn’t just his scoring prowess. Three times he converted fourth downs into a fresh set of downs for the Cougars (1-1). He lugged the ball 33 times and still had enough energy to praise his offensive linemen before running over to the Winthrop sideline for a second round of handshakes with the opposing coaching staff.

“It’s a lot of work playing offense and defense,” said Blackman who also added an interception to his list of stats. “The line was pushing for me to get some scores, so I had to do it. (Winthrop) was crashing with their defensive ends and our line did a great job of blocking them and making adjustments.”

“He’s a tough kid,” added Winthrop coach Joel Stoneton. “He runs fast and he keeps his legs moving.”

The game featured almost 700 yards of offense and five touchdowns of 29 or more yards. The Cougars showed their edge in the trenches early and jumped out to a 28-6 lead in the second quarter.

They marched the ball downfield on their first series, a 10-play, 63-yard drive which was capped by a 4-yard score over the right side by Blackman on fourth down. The visitors went up 14-0 early in the second quarter on a 1-yard sneak by Ben Holmes.

Winthrop (1-1) finally reached the end zone on its ensuing drive as a 21-yard screen pass from quarterback Jared Hanson to fellow sophomore Zach Glazer set up a 29-yard scoring strike from Hanson to Drew Stratton.

Blackman tacked on identical scoring runs of 29 and 49 yards to put the Cougars up by three scores. Both times he burst off tackle over the left side and raced his way to the end zone.

“Bryan carries a lot of the load for us,” said Dirigo coach David Crutchfield, “and our offensive line did a great job of opening up holes off tackle.”

Jared Hanson connected for a 44-yard gain with Damian Hanson to the Cougar 4 late in the half. One play later, fullback Robin Cook pounded in to cut the Cougar lead to 28-12

Dirigo had stuffed starting running back Danny Moody, limiting the junior to minus-1 yard on nine carries before he left late in the half with an injured ankle.

In stepped Glazer who rushed for 117 yards on 11 carries. He picked up 109 of those yards in the second half along with a pair of scores on the ground while adding another through the air. On the Ramblers second series of the half, he picked up runs of 23 and 16 yards before breaking over the left side for a 10-yard score.

Early in the fourth quarter, Glazer had an apparent 83-yard touchdown run called back to midfield for a clipping penalty that happened well behind the play, but two plays later he went in from six yards out and cut the lead to 28-24.

Blackman, who was injured and unavailable to the Cougars for a few plays in the fourth, came off the bench on 3rd-and-8 from the Cougar 47. Using a spread offense, Holmes found a wide open Blackman down the right side and the senior easily ran the remaining 30 yards en route to a 53-yard score.

“I was playing slot and just ran a down, out and go and Ben made a great pass.”

The Ramblers threatened once again as Hanson tossed a screen pass to Glazer on the right side. Getting behind a pair of blockers, Glazer cut back to the left and raced down the sideline for a 68-yard score.

Winthrop’s last gasp effort was to stop the Cougars at midfield on fourth down with just a yard to go, but once again it was Blackman breaking over the line of scrimmage and churning his legs for a 15-yard gain to seal the victory.

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