DIXFIELD — In a battle between titans, something had to give.

But neither the Maranacook nor Dirigo football teams wanted to be the first one to blink in a clash Friday night.

Jesse Evans rushed for three touchdowns, including the eventual game winner in the third quarter, and quarterback Caleb Castonguay threw a touchdown pass as Maranacook remained unbeaten with a hard-fought 26-19 win over Dirigo.

There was a lot on the line, with the winner virtually securing a Class C Campbell Conference home playoff game. The Black Bears had used seven different runners in the first 15 minutes.

“It was important for us to respond after they scored,” said Evans, who opened the scoring with a 3-yard run and added a 14-yard run midway through the second quarter.

Still, the Cougars, trying for their fourth comeback in five games, again benefited from two defensive stands. This had provided a chance, but a potential tying TD run by Spencer Trenoweth was nullified because of an illegal shift.

“You can’t make mistakes three weeks in a row and win, especially against a good team and expect to win,” Dirigo coach David Crutchfield said. ‘They didn’t show us any thing different that we hadn’t prepared for, but our tackling was atrocious. On offense, our runners were hitting the holes, but not always running through them.”

Dirigo (4-1) found itself behind early. It used the power running of Tyler Frost (87 yards, 11 rushes), Trenoweth (45 yards), and Thomas Barnett (45). Frost had TD runs of 12 and 3 yards, the latter following a fumble recovery in fourth quarter. Barnett had a 14-yard score in second quarter. The teams traded turnovers,an  interception by Korey Laliberte of Maranacook and a fumble recovery by the Cougars’ Austin Bernard to end first half.

Castonguay had success against the zone coverage, connecting with Andrew Lachance for a 15-yard TD. The ball bounced off Cougar safety Reilly Lombardi. The Black Bears scored on drives of 54, 4, 46 and 55.

“I’m really proud of this team,” said Castonguay, who completed 5 of 1 passes for 61 yards. “We worked hard in practice all week, and tonight we wrapped-up instead of arm tackling.”

The Maranacook defense and the rainy weather combined to bottle up Cougar QB Brett Whittemore (7 of 15 for 71 yards), who threw two interceptions, the last by Castonguay on the Maranacook 29 with 1:21 left to play.

”We didn’t see any thing differently that I’d seen on films,” Maranacook coach Emery said. ”Our bootleg passes worked well and running the counter worked well early and then we (adjusted).”