FARMINGTON — One punch to the gut would have been enough for the Mt. Blue football team seven nights ago.

After the top-ranked Cougars arrived at their homes from the almost-upset-of-the-century against Mount Desert Island, they absorbed the other half of the left-right combination.

Gone from the Eastern Class B playoffs was No. 2 Leavitt, a victim of the real shocker on its own home turf, courtesy of easily overlooked Belfast.

Which event was a bigger wakeup call? Let’s get historical for a second and you decide.

Imagine being Ulysses S. Grant, watching Robert E. Lee walk sheepishly into Appomattox Court House to surrender and end the Civil War. Sure, victory was both sweet and satisfying, but you can bet there was an admiration for the vanquished that only the conqueror could understand.

OK, if it makes you happier, let’s move the analogies forward to a time when at least some of us were alive. Imagine Oates’ response the first time Hall said he wanted to record a solo project. Or how about the Road Runner pulling up with an Achilles’ injury, leaving Wile E. Coyote no choice but to terrorize Foghorn Leghorn, instead.

Mt. Blue and Leavitt have been inextricably linked since the Cougars joined the league 14 months ago. Life just wouldn’t be the same, but the great ones — and great teams — do move on.

“After we beat Leavitt on the road (20-12 on Oct. 5) it was all about the playoffs and whoever we’re playing and it doesn’t matter,” Mt. Blue tight end and defensive end Zak Kendall said.

Kendall stands 6-foot-4, weighs 265 pounds and sports a Zac Brown beard, so most of us have no choice but to politely believe him. His hitting and his teammates’ attention to detail did plenty of talking Friday night, anyhow.

Mt. Blue scored the first 21 points of the game and — with the exception of a brief second-half hiccup — dominated the distance of a 33-21 regional semifinal win over Gardiner.

And now the tournament path, unlike the portions of neighboring Whittier Road that are closed due to Sandy damage, looks clear as day.

Perhaps too clear. No. 3 Hampden went down in a heap a week ago, too. If and when Mt. Blue reaches the Nov. 17 state final in Portland, it will have beaten a No. 8 seed (MDI, 14-13), a No. 4 (Gardiner) and either a No. 6 (Waterville) or No. 7 (Belfast).

Combine that busted bracket with a flurry of one-sided regular-season wins and Western Maine’s dominion over the 2010 and 2011 Class B championship game and you can almost hear the rumbling. The southern teams had a tougher journey, some will say.

Phooey, fiddlesticks, balderdash and any other Queen’s English synonyms for doo-doo.

This isn’t your father or uncle’s Gardiner team, one that could only run student body left and student body right, and for which a 21-0 deficit would have been a death sentence.

Tigers quarterback Dennis Meehan nearly led Gardiner all the way back, scaring Mt. Blue for the second time this season. Seth Wing’s touchdown run made it a 27-21 game with 10:05 left.

Enter Meehan’s counterpart, Jordan Whitney, who is either the best high school football player in Maine or a doggone dynamite facsimile.

Whitney was a perfect 7-for-7 through the air, including a 31-yard Hail Mary to Nate Backus on fourth-and-Chesterville to give the Cougars breathing room with 4:22 to play.

“Our kids were so pumped to play. So were they. (Assistant coach) Brad Bishop’s quote was, ‘You ever seen a Gardiner team quit?’ They keep coming at you,” Mt. Blue coach Gary Parlin said. “When it got to a one-score game, No. 17 (Whitney), and if anybody doesn’t think he’s a candidate for the Fitzpatrick Trophy, he did it all by himself. He wanted the ball.”

Mt. Blue’s quarterback doesn’t get the chance to flex his passing muscles against Oceanside, Morse or Madison, when the Cougars’ starters rarely see the field beyond intermission.

It’s easy to forget that Whitney been guiding the Cougars with his preternatural calm since sophomore year, when he was a quarter away from getting Mt. Blue past Bangor and into the Pine Tree Conference ‘A’ final.

Told from the beginning of Monday’s practice that the game plan would involve a heavy dose of bootlegging and freelancing, Whitney couldn’t have cared less whether the opponent was Gardiner, Leavitt, MDI or Slippery Rock.

“Last week we came out flat. This week there was no doubt we had a test. We came out hard,” said Whitney, who padded his passing exploits by rushing for 120 yards in the first half, alone. “We know what’s coming next week, too. We lost in the Eastern Maine final last year. We want this. We want this bad.”

The intensity was palpable from the coin flip to the post-game huddle, where Kendall, the team’s acknowledged spiritual leader, cracked up the coaching staff with his use of a certain unprintable word during his speech.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever heard him swear,” Parlin said. “He’s a good, smart kid. You should hear him play guitar and sing. I hope he doesn’t tell his mother he got that from us.”

Kendall was smiling, too. Probably still is. November games require different talk and different action than their September cousins.

“Last week was upset city. It told us playoffs is a whole new season. Records are gone,” Kendall said. “It’s a whole new mentality. It’s fun football, though.”

Fun, indeed. Even when the enemy is a horse wearing unexpected colors.

Kalle Oakes is a staff columnist. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter (@Oaksie72).