LISBON — Six touchdown passes. Two second-half comebacks. Four wins. A pair of 100-yard rushing games.

Not bad for an emergency quarterback.

Zack Splude has lined up at halfback, fullback, flanker and tight end in his Lisbon High School football career. If he were asked to get down in a three-point stance and serve the Greyhounds as a center, guard or tackle, his nearly 200-pound frame and unselfish captain’s demeanor could handle that, too.

He has found his unexpected niche under center, though, directing the Greyhounds’ customary journey into the Western Class C semifinals.

No. 4 Lisbon travels to No. 1 Yarmouth tonight.

“I actually have been playing quarterback all my life,” Splude said. “I converted into a running back during high school. It’s kind of back to the olden days.”

Five days before the season opener, Splude learned that he would be running the Lisbon offense after an injury to projected starter Ryan Riordan.

Splude steered his team to consecutive wins over Oak Hill, Old Orchard Beach and Yarmouth.

Then Riordan returned, and Splude retreated to his role as the Greyhounds’ leading ground gainer. His electrifying 88-yard touchdown run highlighted a 27-7 victory at Winthrop in the regular-season finale.

Lisbon enlisted Splude’s services at quarterback again in quarterfinal clash with Winslow.

He misfired on nine of his first 10 passes. The Greyhounds trailed 14-0 at halftime.

Again, Splude’s penchant for showing up in emergencies saved his team. He ran for back-to-back touchdowns early in the fourth quarter to give the Greyhounds their first lead, then dropped a 34-yard pass on a dime to Quincy Thompson for the game-winning score with 31 seconds remaining in regulation.

“Zack in the last two games has been everything for us. He’s playing a little more physical, a little more dominating than he has all year,” Lisbon coach Dick Mynahan said. “We’re going to be looking to him to be our leader. When he plays hard, everybody follows.”

One of Mynahan’s long-standing traditions is to choose his team’s rainy-day signal-caller at the start of every season.

It’s usually a running back or receiver with some size and an ability to catch a shotgun snap, take off and run.

“We’ve always taken one back and we go with a shotgun series, so if we have an injury we don’t have to go under there and fumble the ball,” Mynahan said. “We did that last year with Tobey (Harrington) and we did that with Zack.”

When Riordan is out of the lineup, Splude calls a majority of the signals, with Thompson occasionally taking a direct snap as the situation dictates.

Splude lined up exclusively at running back in the first meeting against Yarmouth this season. He touched the ball only nine times in a 34-6 defeat.

Lisbon understandably thinks that Splude chalking up 20 to 30 carries could help the retooled Greyhounds glean a different result in the rematch.

“I thought I was going to be playing running back all preseason, but stuff happened and I had to change for the better of my team,” Splude said. “So far it’s been a good season and everything.”

Thompson and Cam Graf give Lisbon two sets of reliable hands to make Splude’s job easier. The senior also credits his father, Rusty, with being available for frequent games of catch in the backyard to practice his throwing motion.

But Splude’s ability to take punishment is more crucial than the ability to throw a tight spiral.

As a linebacker, he’s in the neighborhood of every tackle. Combine that with his new offensive duties and Splude gets hit harder and more frequently than any other Lisbon player.

Winslow watched Splude slip away from a dozen arm tackles during one of Lisbon’s late scoring drives a week ago.

“I had to run straight at them. The whole team had to. We had to show them that we were there to play in the second half and that we weren’t going to lose the game,” Splude said. “I think our plan (Friday) is pretty much the same thing: Take it to them and play hard-nosed Lisbon football.”

koakes@sunjournal.com

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