WINSLOW — Yes, Telstar Regional High School is new to Class C varsity football.

The guy largely responsible for beating the Rebels on Saturday knows the feeling.

Winslow freshman Dylan Hapworth took 10 first-half handoffs and exploded for 149 yards, including touchdowns of 40 and 50, bolstering the Black Raiders to a 41-21 victory at Poulin Field.

“Every team hits hard. It’s my first year of varsity, so it’s all new to me,” Hapworth said. “It’s a big difference.”

Staking his team to a 34-7 halftime lead abbreviated Hapworth’s afternoon. With the exception of a couple of kick returns, the 5-foot-8, 160-pound tailback and linebacker never cradled the ball in the second half.

Hapworth also made an impact on special teams. He nailed five of six extra points, and his three kickoff touchbacks saddled Telstar with miserable field position much of the afternoon.

Winslow (2-0) scored twice in a 96-second span midway through the first quarter.

The Raiders’ ninth-grade workhorse lugged it five times during a 12-play, 86-yard march, but two connections from junior quarterback Donald Camp to Shane O’Connell inflicted the most damage.

O’Connell’s first grab for nine yards converted a third down deep in Winslow territory. Later, in the shadow of the other goalposts, the senior co-captain ran a fade route and made an over-the-shoulder grab for a 22-yard score.

“Shane ran right behind the guy. I just threw it up and let him run to it,” said Camp, who completed all four of his pass attempts for 34 yards.

After Hapworth booted the ensuing kickoff through the end zone, Telstar went three-and-out, including Matt Fortier’s tackle for a seven-yard loss.

The fourth-down snap sailed high over punter Will Lyman’s head and rattled around perilously in the end zone. Winslow’s V.J. Tantoco smothered it for a 13-0 lead.

Telstar (0-2) surrendered the ball on its own side of midfield again early in the second quarter. The Rebels tried to draw the Raiders offside on fourth-and-5 from the 40, then hurried a swing pass from Dom Haines to Nick Mills.

Winslow made the stop well shy of the stick.

“We made a couple of costly mistakes in the first half,” Telstar coach Tim O‘Connor said. “The turnover where the snap was over the punter’s head. It hurt. The other one really put us back on our heels, and they wound up scoring on the next play.”

Technically it was two plays. Kurt Morgan and Kenny Haas stuffed Eric Crawley for no gain at the 40, just before Hapworth made his first trip to the house.

Telstar used big gains by Dylan Poland on the ground and Lyman through the air, combined with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Winslow, to get on the board.

Haines hit Mills in stride for a 13-yard TD with 8:03 left in the half.

But Winslow, also participating in Class C for the first time after a lengthy tradition in the Class A and B divisions of the Pine Tree Conference, tacked on two TDs before the horn.

Crawley capped a lengthy march with a 2-yard score. Hapworth hit from 50 yards immediately following a short Telstar punt.

“Just because it’s Class C doesn’t mean it’s easy,” Camp said. “We work hard in practice. Coach (Mike Siviski) keeps giving us new schemes to work on so we get better every game.”

The Rebels showed a persistence that should serve them well as they write this opening chapter in a rugged Campbell Conference.

Telstar reached the end zone twice in the fourth quarter — on a 28-yard run by backup quarterback Jared Vermette and Drew Wilson’s 19-yard reverse with an assist to Corey Howard’s crunching lead block.

Mills, Poland and Devin Vail each recovered a fumble for Telstar. Mills led the Rebels with nine carries for 66 yards. Haines and Vermette were a combined 9-of-20 through the air.

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