FARMINGTON — Freezing temperatures rendered the Kemp Field scoreboard inoperable for the start of Friday night’s Eastern Class B quarterfinal between No. 2 Mt. Blue and No. 7 Mount Desert Island.

Apparently, it just needed the “Cougar Gun” to warm up.

Mt. Blue’s defense provided a couple of key early stops on fourth down, then the offense revved up with touchdowns on four straight possessions as the Cougars cruised to a 43-7 victory in their first Pine Tree Conference Class B playoff contest. They will host No. 3 Gardiner in the semifinals next Friday night.

Jordan Whitney completed six of nine passes for 133 yards and three touchdowns, two to Chris Malone, and Cam Sennick, Bradley Jackson and Nate Backus each ran in for a score for the Cougars (8-1).

“We’re one family, one goal,” Malone said. “Our goal is to get through one game at a time and play as hard as we can.”

Mt. Blue won the first meeting between the teams, 50-26, back on Sep. 16, but this one got off to a promising start for MDI (5-4) when the Cougars muffed a squibber on the opening kickoff. Donny Hanson recovered for the Trojans at Mt. Blue’s 36, but thanks in part to a couple of stops for no gain by Zak Kendall and a crunching hit by Izaiha Tracy to force a pass incompletion, Mt. Blue’s defense held on four downs.

MDI got another chance when Whitney fumbled at the end of a 33-yard run. Jayson Burke recovered for the Trojans, but again they couldn’t capitalize. Shortly after they crossed midfield, Kendall and Chris Cautillo stuffed Elias Burne (25 carries, 85 yards) on 4th and 1. MDI crossed midfield just once more in the first half, and that time they only got to the Cougar 49 before Cautillo picked off a Hanson pass.

Mt. Blue stuck with an adjustment it made at halftime of the first meeting, when the Trojans, particularly Burke, were having a lot of success running the ball.

“They only see us in a 4-3 (defense) and we threw in the ’43 Green,’ which is me and Cautillo at double-linebacker in the middle so we could stop the run,” Malone said.

“We had to get lower and we had to step it up,” Cautillo said. “Our defense hasn’t played the best in the past, but we stepped it up and we brought it to them.”

On the second play of Mt. Blue’s ensuing possession, Malone appeared to have a 48-yard touchdown catch after making a nice fingertip grab over the middle. But an illegal block in the back near the end zone brought the play back to the MDI 10. Two plays later, Whitney, working out of the shotgun, faked a handoff to the right then flipped a shovel pass to the left to Malone, who was in the end zone before the over-pursuing Trojan defense even knew he had the ball.

After Cautillo’s interception, the Cougars ran the same play again. This time, Malone had to break a tackle at the 20 to finish off a 47-yard TD that made it 13-0 with 50 seconds left in the first quarter.

“They were the same plays, ’39 Reverse,'” Malone said. “The first one should have gone in but for the block in the back, but hey, I’m not saying anything. The refs called a fair game. I loved every minute of it. I just played my hardest and I knew I had my best friend, (guard) Chris Cautillo, pulling around to hit somebody.”

The scoreboard finally lit up in the second quarter, just in time for Sennick’s 51-yard touchdown run. Tracy hauled in the two-point pass to make it 21-0.

Sacks by Kendall and Chad Luker thwarted MDI’s next drive. After a punt, the Cougars took over at midfield and made it 28-0 four plays later when Whitney found Nick Hilton in the left flat for a 17- yard touchdown.

The Trojans took the ball to start the second half and marched to the Cougar 30, only to be stopped again on 4th and 1, with Luker bringing Burne down just shy of the marker.

MDI was 1-for-5 on fourth down conversions.

“They’re going to have long drives because they’re three yards a crack and it takes three plays to get a first down. But the fourth down plays were big,” Mt. Blue coach Gary Parlin said.

“They had a good plan defensively,” MDI coach Mark Shields said. “I’m sure the plan was to stop J-Burke, and they were shooting that gap where he was pretty much every play.”

After Luker’s stop, the Cougars took over at their 29 and, aided by a pass interference penalty, marched 71 yards in eight plays. Jackson’s 5-yard run put them up, 35-0.

MDI unleashed Burke (26 carries, 122 yards) in the second half, and he spoiled Mt. Blue’s shutout bid with a 6-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter.