Count veteran Lisbon coach Dick Mynahan among them.

Lisbon turned almost entirely into a passing offense Saturday against a big, strong and speedy Maranacook squad looking to make a statement against a traditional Campbell Conference contender.

While Lisbon’s strategy worked for a while, the Black Bears were ultimately just too much for the young Greyhounds to handle, running away from Thompson Field with a 42-7 victory.

“Lisbon played tough,” Maranacook coach Joe Emery said. “I know they’re down some numbers right now, but I talked to my kids all week about how Lisbon has played in the past, gritty and tough and going hard at all times, and that’s what we’re trying to build at Maranacook.”

After a solid season a year ago, the Black Bears show little signs of slowing down. Feature running back Jesse Evans led a potent rushing attack for Maranacook with 93 yards on 20 carries and a pair of touchdowns.

“Our line worked really, really hard all week and they deserve a lot of the credit,” Evans said.

Quarterback Caleb Castonguay added 49 more yards and a touchdown rushing, and also threw for 203 yards and three scores, many of the bigger plays coming on third- or fourth-down conversions set up by the rush.

“Wihout having a solid running game, none of the big plays can happen,” Evans said. “The defense could have played loose. You have to bring more guys into the box when a team’s running against you.”

Despite the obvious Maranacook advantage, Lisbon held its ground early.

“They’re a big, strong team, and we were certainly undermanned today,” Mynahan said. “I’m really proud of my kids, I didn’t think we’d be able to play as well as we did. I’m very proud of our kids.”

Castonguay hooked up with Andrew Lachance for a 36-yard touchdown on a third-and-long early in the game to set the tone for Maranacook. After forcing a Lisbon punt, the Black Bears added a second TD on a Castonguay bullet to Zach Bessett that tipped off a Lisbon defender before landing in the receiver’s hands.

On offense, Lisbon threw on almost every down, and ran several plays out of the Polecat formation, with a group of players lined up several yards away from the spot of the ball.

“With five sophomores, that’s what we tried to do,” Mynahan said. “You try to go seven on seven, and only because you want to try to escape injury. They’re a big strong team, and we knew we couldn’t come close to them handing everything off. Kids inside, it wouldn’t have been fair in that situation.”

Evans scored his first touchdown in the second quarter, and the Bears went into the half on top 22-0.

A pair of interceptions by Lisbon sophomore Kyle Bourget (19-for-38, 115 yards, 4 INT) early in the second half afforded Maranacook another solid scoring chance, and Evans scampered into the end zone on a fourth-and-2 to push the visitors’ lead to 28-0.

The little success Lisbon did have Saturday came on a series of passes into the flat, alternating from left to right.

“I told Kyle today I think he threw more passes today that I’ve had our team throw in the last 10 years,” Mynahan said. “He did a good job for a sophomore.”

Another Castonguay-to-Lachance catch and run — this one for 72 yards — led to another Maranacook TD before Lisbon got itself on the board on a kick return. Jordon Torres scooped up the ball inside his own 20 and weaved his way through the middle before bouncing out to the left side and down the sideline for the touchdown.

“We tried to get outside a little bit,” Mynahan said. “We had four or five kids inside just mostly young kids. We had seven sophomores and one freshman most of the way out there.”

Castonguay kept the ball and scored in the waning minutes of the contest to cap the scoring.

“Our kids got in shape today,” Emery said. “I’m glad we were able to play a full game today, because we have Yarmouth next Friday night. I thought we executed really well. We took advantage of what they gave us, made some adjustments and came out on top.”

Copy the Story Link