WATERVILLE — The quick-striking Mt. Blue offense certainly made up for a slow start Saturday. After spotting the Waterville Purple Panthers a 14-point, first-quarter lead, Mt. Blue erupted for 55 unanswered points to runaway with a 55-14 win.

Waterville (4-4) moved the ball downfield on its first drive behind the inside running of fullback J.T. Whitten and halfback Racean Wood on an 11-play, 70-yard assault. An 18-yarder by Whitten and an 11-yard burst by Wood set up Wood’s score from five yards out.

Following an interception by Whitten, the Purple Panthers were ready to strike again. On second down, Wood raced 33 yards to the Mt. Blue 9. Unfortunately for the home squad, Wood was injured on the play and never returned. Four plays later, it was Whitten (25 carries for 82 yards) powering his way over from the 1 to give Waterville a 14-0 lead with 2:28 left in the opening quarter.

“(Assistant coach) Brad Bishop said ‘I’ve seen teams come here on Saturday and start out slow,’” said Mt. Blue coach Gary Parlin. “We talked about it all week.”

On their second possession, the Cougars (7-1) got things rolling, and did they ever get rolling. An 11-yard run by Eric Berry was followed by three straight completions from Jordan Whitney (11-of-19, 193 yards and three touchdowns). The second one went 11 yards to Chris Malone on a quick slant. The third was a 27-yard fade to Nick Hilton in the end zone to cut the deficit to 14-7.

When the Cougars got the ball back on downs, Cam Sennick ripped over the right side for a 66-yard touchdown run to tie the game.

Later in the half, the Cougars struck again. Facing fourth down at the Waterville 46, Sennick and Malone criss-crossed a quick pattern which saw Malone racing down the right sideline. Whitney looked off a receiver to the left and hit Malone in stride at the 20. Waterville defensive back Brian Bellows took a bad angle at the 25 by jumping the pattern only to see the ball go over his head and into Malone’s arms. Malone easily scored to give the Cougars a 21-14 halftime lead.

“We had a guy that went for the ball and not the man,” said Waterville coach Frank Knight.

With Wood out of the game, the Purple Panthers would move the chains just once the rest of the way against the Cougars’ starting defense. Having no passing game to speak of and their only outside running weapon on the sideline, the Purple Panthers were forced to go between the tackles with Whitten and Aaron Saucier.

“We had a pretty good game plan,” said Knight. “They’re taller, bigger and faster. We ran out of ammunition and couldn’t get back in.”

With Waterville’s offense shut down, the Mt. Blue attack was just getting cranked up. In its first four plays of the third quarter, Mt. Blue scored three times.

On their first play, Berry (four carries for 90 yards) raced 68 yards untouched around the left end for a score. After a 57-yard punt return on a reverse by Nate Backus, the Cougars were knocking on the door again. This time it was Sennick going over from seven yards out. The senior finished with 73 yards and a pair of scores on just two carries.

The Cougars held their opponent to another three and out series and took over on the Waterville 45 following a Whitten punt. On first down, Whitney faked a handoff to Sennick and found a wide open Zak Kendall deep down the middle for a 45-yard scoring strike and a 41-14 lead.

“I just faked,” said Whitney. “I knew the safety was going to bite. I just threw it over the top.”

The Cougars averaged just under 10 yards per carry, finishing with 275 yards on the ground on 28 attempts while picking up over 10 yards per pass attempt in a dominating offensive performance.

“We’ve had years we’ve been top heavy for one guy,” said Parlin of his team’s multiple offensive weapons. (Now) you have to play us in a base defense.”

Mt. Blue tacked on two more touchdowns on a 21-yard interception return by Bradley Jackson and a 10-yard scoring pass from Whitney, his third of the game, to Jamie Brooks to close the scoring.

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