WALES — The rest of Western Class D has been given fair warning — Oak Hill is a very balanced football team, and as it showed Saturday, even cold, wind, rain and a very good Lisbon defense that had been giving up less than 10 points per game couldn’t knock them off-balance.

Alex Mace rushed for 160 yards and three touchdowns sandwiched between two Parker Asselin touchdown passes as Oak Hill clinched the No. 2 seed in the Class D West playoffs with a 33-14 win over Lisbon.

The Raiders (6-2) will host No. 7 Boothbay in the quarterfinals next Saturday. The Greyhounds (6-2) are the No. 3 seed and will host No. 6 Maranacook next Saturday.

“We feel good. We’re running into the playoffs instead of backpedaling,” Asselin said. “We want to make the road come through Oak Hill, so I’m glad we got second (seed).”

Kyle Flaherty rushed for 156 yards and also had a 15-yard catch. He and Mace accounted for all but all but 57 of the Raiders’ 378 total yards. Mace (sack, forced fumble) also teamed up with Luke Washburn (two sacks, fumble recovery) in limiting Lisbon to just 27 net yards in the first half, 164 for the game.

The Greyhounds were without star running back Quincy Thompson, who was sidelined with a dislocated elbow suffered last week. Jordon Torres rushed for 92 yards and Joe Philbrick rushed for both touchdowns in his absence, but the Greyhounds were clearly out of sync without their all-purpose threat.

Advertisement

“We worked on things all week and we went away from what we did,” Lisbon coach Dick Mynahan said. “I didn’t have a lot of confidence with replacements out there. We went back to what we did in the second half, and they ran much better. It probably taught me a good lesson that I should stick with what’s been working.”

Trailing 20-0 at the half, Lisbon had Torres and Jordan Glover (seven carries, 74 yards) run jet sweeps from the opening drive of the second half and found immediate success, marching 73 yards on 10 plays to Philbrook’s 1-yard TD run that made it a two-possession game.

The Greyhounds had hopes of cutting the deficit even further when Tyler Halls intercepted Asselin at Lisbon’s 27 on Oak Hill’s first offensive series of the second half, but the Raiders defense forced a three-and-out and a punt.

“They had a very good adjustment on the outside,” said Oak Hill coach Stacen Doucette, a former assistant for Mynahan at Lisbon. “We had to scramble a little bit and we made some adjustments. Lisbon’s never going to quit. Coach Mynahan’s a great coach and they’re always going to be well-prepared.”

Mace widened the margin back to 20 after sprinting untouched for a 51-yard touchdown four plays into the fourth quarter.

“That was a perfect hole. The biggest hole I’ve ever seen,” Mace said.

Advertisement

Lisbon put the pressure back on quickly thanks to a long kick return by Torres and a 40-yard run by Glover to the Raider 2. A pair of one-yard runs by Philbrick and Kyle Bourget’s two-point pass to Halls pulled the Greyhounds within 12, 26-14.

But that was as close as they would get as the Raiders milked the clock for seven minutes on their ensuing drive, which was capped by Asselin’s 14-yard play-action pass to a wide open Ryan Stevens in the end zone with 2:16 remaining.

“I knew they would be expecting the run and so did (Doucette), and he trusts us,” Asselin said. “We have three seniors going out for passes, so he trusts us.”

The Raiders found out they could trust in their defense right away. A fumble on the opening kickoff set up Lisbon at Oak Hill’s 32 to start the game.

Two short runs and two incomplete passes shifted momentum to the Raiders, and they took advantage, never reaching third down until the final play of the drive. That’s when Asselin (4-for-6, 65 yards) rolled to his right and threw to Washburn, who made a nice leaping grab in the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown.

“It was great protection,” Asselin said. “Luke’s been a little down on himself because he’s been a decoy most of the year, but he finally got his chance. He was open and made a nice catch.”

Advertisement

Lisbon barely crossed midfield on its next possession, but Washburn dropped Bourget for an eight-yard sack to help stall the drive late in the first quarter.

“They’re a good, well-drilled team. They looked terrific out there today,” Mynahan said. “Luke (Washburn) is a real dominant factor in any game, and he showed it, I though, especially in the first half.”

Mace and Flaherty alternated carries on another clock-draining scoring drive early in the second quarter, capped by Mace’s three-yard TD run.

Lisbon crossed midfield again on its next possession. After the Greyhounds converted on fourth-and-inches, Washburn tripped-up Bourget for his second sack. On the next play, Mace came on a blind-side blitz and hit Bourget just as he was winding up to throw, jarring the ball loose. Washburn recovered it at Lisbon’s 36.

“That was actually the first sack I’ve ever gotten in my life,” Mace said. “That was pretty cool. That made me more happy than my touchdowns did.”

Mace added to his mirth with a 5-yard touchdown run that made it 20-0 with 41 seconds to go in the half.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.