FARMINGTON — Folks in Farmington and surrounding towns will remember November 9, 2012 for a host of reasons.

Everyone will remember the date the Mt. Blue Cougars won their first Pine Tree Conference Class B title in 30 years (and first regional title in any class in seven years).

Those who witnessed or participated in the Cougars’ crushing double-overtime defeat in the 2011 PTC championship will remember it as a day of redemption. Others will recall it as a glorious curtain call for Mt. Blue’s two-year run at its temporary home, Kemp Field.

Those with a longer institutional memory will remember it as the day the Cougar Gun gave way to Caldwell’s Cougar Cavalry.

Unbeaten Mt. Blue dominated 47 of 48 minutes to crush a spunky Waterville team, 42-14, Friday night. And it did it by overwhelming the Purple Panthers not with its vaunted passing game led by Fitzpatrick Trophy candidate Jordan Whitney, but with a punishing, pick-your-poison running game that picked up yardage in big chunks and, perhaps more importantly, steadied the Cougars when it seemed they were about to live their worst nightmare.

Mt. Blue was cruising through the first half, taking advantage of excellent field position provided by an early Nate Backus kick return and a stingy defense. Mixing in the occasional shovel pass to Lucas and screen to Chad Luker with the inside-outside running of Calan Lucas, Luker and Bradley Jackson, they stormed out to a 21-0 lead.

Then Waterville got the spark it needed from a Jordan DeRosby kick return to Mt. Blue’s 46. It needed just three plays after that to get on the board on Aidan FitzGerald’s 8-yard pass to Nick Danner. After a missed PAT kick, the Cougars seemed poised to head into intermission with a suitably comfortable 21-6 lead with 35 seconds left in the half.

For some reason, that was unacceptable to the Cougars. Rather than take a knee, they got greedy (“The stupidest play call in history,” coach Gary Parlin called it later) and sent Whitney into the half-minute drill. Waterville’s Brian Bellows picked off his first pass in the flat and ran it back 19 yards for a touchdown. The two-point conversion made it 21-14 and sent the Cougars and their fans into the break stunned.

And boy, did Mt. Blue take advantage of the break.

Waterville started the second half with the ball but didn’t have it very long. Led by Luker, the defense forced a three-and-out.

Taking over at their own 36, the Cougars marched down the field in nine running plays, with Luker, Lucas and Whitney sharing the load. Luker’s 3-yard touchdown run made it 28-14, and the blue-and-gold clad faithful could start exhaling again.

Luker then took over on defense, stopping Cameron Thomas for a loss on 4th and 5 at the Cougars’ 24, then teaming up with Dustin Richards to bury Derek Lachance for a loss to set up a three-and-out on Waterville’s next possession.

After a punt, Mt. Blue stayed grounded, again with Luker (four rushing touchdowns), Lucas and Whitney moving the chains, and put the game away on Luker’s one-yard TD plunge with 6:40 left.

Twenty second-half plays, 20 runs. Game over.

The Cougars churned out a jaw-dropping 358 yards on the ground, accounting for most of their two-dozen first downs. Whitney (7 for 10, 88 yards) was on the mark when asked to throw, as has been his wont for three years. But with the offensive line of Drew Blanchet, Eli Luker, Connor Farrington, Tyler Sennick and Colin Richards opening holes big enough to drive a herd of cows through the Kemp Field pasture, coach Gary Parlin saw little reason to get greedy again in the second half.

Parlin may be one of the pioneers of passing in Maine high school football, but few will ever accuse him of being stubborn.

“As it turned out, we ran Ray Caldwell’s old 48-rip all night,” he said, hearkening back to his legendary predecessor.

Mt. Blue now takes its thundering herd to Portland, where a worthy opponent, either Marshwood or York (to be determined Saturday) will await.

Whether the plan will be to stick with the smashmouth or return to relying on Whitney’s remarkable right arm, the Cougars won’t kick up as much dust on the Fitzpatrick Stadium turf as they did Friday night on the Kemp Field sod.

Don’t doubt for a second, though, that they will give it a good run either way.