WALES — The script for Saturday’s Campbell Conference quarterfinal looked distressingly familiar to Lisbon in the first half and uncomfortably familiar to Oak Hill in the second half.

The result, much to the favored Raiders’ relief, was also essentially the same.

No. 2 Oak Hill jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first half Saturday, then held on as No. 7 Lisbon rallied in the second half, twice pulling within seven points, before the Raiders pulled away with a 28-21 victory.

Oak Hill will host No. 3 Dirigo next Saturday. The Raiders crushed the Cougars, 33-0, last week.

Alex Mace led a dominant Oak Hill running game with 132 yards on 23 carries and a touchdown, plus a touchdown catch. Kyle Flaherty rushed for 93 yards on 17 carries. Junior quarterback Parker Asselin rushed for two short touchdowns and also completed the 13-yard touchdown pass to Mace.

“We came out ready to play because we want to get the seniors another game,” Asselin said. “I’ve never seen anyone that loves football more than our seniors, so we didn’t want their season to end.”

It seemed the Raiders (8-1) would put a quick end to the Greyhounds’ season after a first half in which they outgained Lisbon, 195-14, and limited the Greyhounds to one first down en route to a 21-0 lead.

But Lisbon, much like it did in the first meeting between the two teams (won by Oak Hill, 21-14), came roaring back in the second half and twice pulled within seven points.

“We just didn’t want to panic. We just focused on bending not breaking,” Oak Hill coach Stacen Doucette said. “We just wanted to keep playing down to down.”

Both times the Greyhounds made it a one possession game, the Raiders responded with clock-killing drive behind their senior-laden offensive line of Brian Daniels, Mike Saunders, Chris Harlow, Richard Fillion, Bayley Beaulieu and tight end Luke Washburn.

Lisbon pulled within 21-14 on Kyle Bourget’s eight-yard TD pass to Brandon Hovey with 2:10 remaining in the third quarter. Not surprisingly, Oak Hill stayed on the ground, with Flaherty and Asselin splitting all but one of the carries on a 10-play, 62-yard drive capped by Asselin’s one-yard TD run that made it 28-14 early in the fourth.

The Greyhounds put pressure right back on the Oak Hill offense with another score, a 12-yard TD run by Quincy Thompson (12 carries, 87 yards, two TDs). Zach Stevens’ extra point made it a seven-point game again with 5:46 to go.

Given the trouble they were having stopping the Raiders, the Greyhounds took a calculated risk and tried an onside kick. The ball hit a Lisbon player in the foot before traveling the required 10 yards, so Oak Hill was able to start at Lisbon’s 43 with 5:46 remaining.

Two runs  by Mace, one by Flaherty and one by Asselin moved the chains and the Raiders were able to take a knee at Lisbon’s 1 to kill the clock.

“We know Lisbon’s tough because they did that to us the last time we played them,” Asselin said. “We just knew we had to stick with it and drive it down the field.”

Oak Hill drove it down the field on three of four first-half possessions, controlling the ball for 18 of a possible 24 minutes.

Mace ended the game’s opening drive with an 8-yard touchdown run. The teams exchanged punts, then the Raiders went on a 15-play drive, despite starting at midfield, with Mace converting twice on fourth down.

“I think the counters worked the best for us,” Mace said. “We got a lot of yards on the counters and our line did a great job blocking.”

On third-and-goal from the 13, Asselin rolled out right for his first pass of the game and found Mace in the back right corner of the end zone for a 14-0 lead.

“They were all cramming in the middle so it was a great call by our coach. I just ran to the outside and Parker got it to me,” Mace said. “That was a great pass by Parker. Just perfect.”

“They have some kids that we really can’t match up with,” Lisbon coach Dick Mynahan said. “As a result, you cheat a little bit (for the run) and if you cheat, you can get beat.”

Lisbon went three-and-out again on its next possession and a 12-yard punt gave the Raiders golden field position again at Lisbon’s 33.

“In the first half, we just  never really got a chance to get our offense going,” Lisbon coach Dick Mynahan said. “They came out really fired up and held us in check and we never really got any rhythm going.”

Three straight runs by Joel Wells moved the Raiders to the 20 and a pass interference penalty on the Greyhounds advanced them to the 8. Two plays later, Asselin drove it in from two yards out for a 21-0 lead with 24 seconds left in the half.

“The offense ate the clock and kept the ball out of their hands because Quincy’s a dynamic player,” said Doucette, who was an assistant coach at Lisbon before becoming head coach at Oak Hill this year. “Quincy’s one of the best athletes in our conference. He may be one of the best athletes in the state and he showed it today.”

Thompson showed it with some hard running on Lisbon’s drive to open the second half, particularly on a 17-yard TD run that finally got the Greyhounds on the board 4:05 into the third quarter.

rwhitehouse@sunjournal.com

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