LIVERMORE FALLS — In the space of two hours, Wells experienced the adrenaline rush, the false sense of security and the heartbreak of trying to tackle Spruce Mountain’s Matt Vigue.

Ten times Friday night, the senior all-purpose back took a pitch or a handoff from Peter Theriault and was hit more quickly than he could inhale or pick up his head. Net total: Six yards.

Ah, but those other three touches …

Vigue exploded for second-half touchdown runs of 43, 53 and 65 yards, backing up a brilliant red zone performance by the Phoenix defense in a 27-6 Class C West victory over the Warriors at Griffin Field.

“We’re not bad with the ball in 20’s hands,” Spruce Mountain coach Walter Polky said.

On a night when Wells halfback Chris Carney (30 carries, 192 yards) and fullback Mike Curtis (24 carries, 133 yards) were relentless out of the Warriors’ time-honored Wing-T, it was Vigue (13 for 177) who furnished the fireworks.

“Our line was great tonight,” Vigue said. “I couldn’t have done anything without them. That’s how we got the big runs. All them, all them.”

Spruce Mountain (2-0) was forced to jumble that veteran quintet when senior guard Denton Bilodeau was injured in pregame.

Junior Steven Sylvester joined Sebastian Lombardi, Luke Greenwood, Anthony York and Dylan Smith, and after a sluggish quarter-and-a-half, the Phoenix offense found its stride.

Theriault directed a 70-yard drive in the final three minutes of the half, capped by a 22-yard touchdown strike to Andrew Darling on fourth-and-9. Theriault’s extra-point kick made it 7-6.

Wells (1-1) marched from its own 30 to the Spruce 17 in the final 45 seconds before Austin Darling’s interception salvaged Spruce’s lead going into the locker room. It was one of five Warriors drives to die inside the Phoenix 25.

“That fourth down they scored on us, if you look at that side of the field, I have four sophomores standing there. It’s their first time playing in a big game. We have a veteran group, but we’re young in spots,” Wells coach Tim Roche said. “We drive down, but we do some stupid things. To me it’s a great lesson right now. I told them after the game we need to learn to finish, and we need to learn to be smarter about penalties. If we cut back on those, we’re either ahead or we’re definitely in the game.”

Having deferred their option to the second half after winning the pre-game coin toss, the Phoenix needed only four plays to fatten the lead.

Theriault’s 26-yard connection with Deonte Ring on a deep slant set the table for Vigue’s first score, begun with an open lane to the left and capped by a broken tackle at the 15.

“We made an adjustment. We saw something that we liked on the outside and tried to take advantage of it,” Polky said. “The problem was, their interior defense is unbelievable, with the Curtis kid coming off the edge. They were very, very strong.

Helped by a facemask penalty, then harmed by a holding call, Wells’ next drive ended in a goal-line stand.

James Ouellette, Vigue and Theriault teamed up to corral Carney just inside the 2 on third down. The Warriors went with their short-yardage strength from there, and Lombardi leveled Curtis well shy of the goal line.

Wells actually could have achieved a first down without reaching the end zone, but the ensuing measurement wasn’t close.

“With Curtis, I’m thinking on fourth-and-1 from the 1 that the odds are pretty good, but I think we went too quick,” Roche said. “Sometimes you get anxious, and even as coaches we get excited.”

Wells had its chance to force a punt from deep in Spruce territory. Theriault (5-for-10, 143 yards) went deep on third-and-7, however, and Ring (four catches, 121 yards) made a lunging grab.

Vigue veered left, low-hurdled a Wells tackler at the line and raced to the house on the next play.

“I think we can do that a lot. It got us hyped up, and we knew we could win it from there,” Ring said. “That was a huge win. We knew they were one of the best teams in the conference.”

Ring knocked down Nate Booth’s fourth-down pass to Ryan Marsh in the end zone, stymieing another Wells scoring bid.

Vigue capitalized again, bobbling the handoff before accelerating into daylight.

“We didn’t break. We’ve been working on that all year,” Vigue said. “We’ve just got to keep our composure when things get tough, and that’s what we did tonight.”

Ouellette and Lombardi each logged sacks of Booth to lead the Spruce Mountain defense, with nose guard Chad Richards also in on numerous stops.

Smith forced a fumble deep in Spruce territory in the second quarter.

“Our defense needs to get better. We let up too many yards, too many missed assignments. You can’t rely on bend but don’t break,” Polky said. “But it is a big win. This is why you put all those hours in the weight room, all these hours in practice, all those hours in the summer. The kids responded. They wanted it. We talked about effort, and they gave the effort we needed.”

koakes@sunjournal.com

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