LISBON FALLS — Freeport tried pulling out all of the stops for Saturday’s battle of unbeatens with Lisbon at Thompson Field.

Prepared for everything the Falcons would throw at them, the Greyhounds pulled off the stops when they needed them and emerged with a 28-14 win.

Four different players scored for Lisbon (4-0), which featured a balanced running attack led by Jordon Torres (12 carries, 106 yards, TD) and Mason Haley (11 carries, 73 yards, TD). With Zak Splude, Kyle Sheehan and Quincy Thompson (22 yards apiece) all chipping in, they ran the ball 50 times for 218 yards against the much bigger Falcons.

“We’ve got a young line up there, but I told them today, ‘You’re no longer young. We’re halfway through our season and maturing a little bit,'” Lisbon coach Dick Mynahan said. “I thought the line did well. I thought we had some pretty nice running and I thought coach (Stacen) Doucette called a good game today to find the weaknesses of a big, strong team.”

“They got through the line a couple of times just because of their size, but our guys, with our speed, stepped up and did well,” Torres said.

Lisbon’s speed showed up on defense as well, particularly up front where the Falcons averaged 250 pounds per man on the offensive line. Freeport (3-1) chewed up 401 yards on the ground last week against Telstar, but senior nose tackle Chase Hunter, listed at 170 pounds, helped limit the Falcons to 109 yards by bursting through for several tackles in the backfield.

“We didn’t do anything different than we did last week (in a shutout win over Boothbay),” Hunter said. “We just stuck to our regular defense and just got it done, like we always do. Our front line penetrated all the time. We’re pretty small up front (but) but we’re very quick off the ball and we can get through there easily.”

“Their defense is a very solid defense,” Freeport coach Rob Grover said. “We had a couple of good drives, but we didn’t get any breakaways.”

The Falcons tried to catch the Greyhounds off-guard with a number of wrinkles, including onside kicks and a fake punt. Some worked, most didn’t.

They started the game with a 65-yard touchdown pass from James Purdy to Chris Farley for a touchdown on the first play. The Greyhounds expected Freeport to come out throwing, but an excellent throw by Purdy along the right sideline hit Farley in stride for the quick 7-0 lead.

Lisbon drove into Freeport territory on its first possession, but Splude’s throw into the end zone was picked off by Purdy. The defense forced a three-and-out, and the offense finished off its second drive. Torres took a sweep to the right side, followed a downfield block by Dalton Dunphy, hurdled over Dunphy on the ground and raced the final 15 yards for a 27-yard touchdown. Lisbon missed the extra point to keep Freeport in front, 7-6.

“I’ve never actually hurdled somebody before to get a touchdown,” Torres said. “If it wasn’t for the blocking, I would have never scored. The line had a good game.”

Cam Graf’s second-quarter interception at Freeport’s 30 put Lisbon in prime position to take the lead. The Greyhounds converted three fourth downs, two fourth and ones to keep the drive alive, then a fourth and 3 where Ryan Riordan found Thompson in the left flat for a 3-yard touchdown that made it 12-7. Riordan was playing his first game since breaking his hand in the preseason.

Freeport tried to catch Lisbon napping with a fake punt at the end of the first half and an onside kick to start the second half. Purdy’s pass to Dan Burke on the fake punt ended up just shy of the first down. The Greyhounds were more prepared for onside kick. Casey Garrison recovered it at Lisbon’s 47.

“We were trying to get the ball away from them,” Grover said. “We tried to catch them off-guard. The fake punt was the same thing. A team like that, you’ve got to take chances here and there.”

The Greyhounds couldn’t immediately make hay off the good field position, going three-and-out. But Freeport couldn’t catch the punt cleanly and Aaron Boyington pounced on the loose ball at Freeport’s 26.

Five plays later, Splude ran off left tackle and appeared to be stopped at the two, but the tackler spun him into the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown. Riordan ran in the two-point conversion to make it 20-7.

The defense temporarily made the lead stand when Haley tackled Joe Nixon for a three-yard loss on 4th and 1 from Lisbon’s 11. The Greyhounds lost yardage on offense and tried a pooch punt on third down, but only pushed the Falcons back to Lisbon’s 29. Purdy’s 4-yard QB sneak pulled Freeport back to within 20-14 with 10:48 remaining.

Needing a clock-killing drive or another score to sew it up, the Greyhounds chose the latter. They recovered Freeport’s low-line drive kick at their own 46 and needed just five plays make it a two-possession game again. Haley’s 20-yard touchdown run and Riordan’s two-pointer made it 28-14 with 8:45 remaining. Freeport’s subsequent drive stalled with five minutes left and the Greyhounds ran out the clock.

Copy the Story Link