Now, given a new schedule of Class B South opponents to dissect, the Hornets suddenly are a second-half team.

Leavitt scored on the third play of the third quarter, a 55-yard connection between seniors Levi Craig and Max Green, and it was a sign of more to come Friday night in a 43-14 victory over Morse at Libby Field.

A week after trailing Westbrook 7-0 at the half before rallying to a 22-21 win, Leavitt briefly fell behind Morse 7-6 and led only 14-7 at the half before hitting its stride.

“We go in at halftime and we always know we can make adjustments, so we never get down on ourselves,” Craig said. “The coaches do a good job of figuring out what needs to be fixed.”

Craig threw for 197 of his 278 yards and three of his four touchdowns in the second half. D’Andre James also had scoring grabs of 27 and 37 yards.

The first of Green’s two TD catches, a 63-yard bomb, gave Leavitt (2-0) the lead for good with 6:35 remaining in the first half.

“Levi checked a lot of those plays at the line of scrimmage. He was changing plays, changing sides of plays. That was good to see him get that experience,” Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway said. “That first play of the half was an audible to Max. That was a run play we called. He changed it and threw it.”

Chandler Lajoie and John Rousseau made solo tackles to stop Morse drives on downs in the fourth quarter and seal the win. Each also had a first-quarter fumble recovery to hold the Shipbuilders (1-1) at bay while the Hornets’ offense sputtered.

“It means a lot. You get in their head when you get an easy three-and-out,” Lajoie said. “It’s all about your reads. Play physical, play downhill.”

Hunter Sirois carried 14 times for 126 yards to lead Leavitt’s resurgent running game.

Morse’s Damon Osmond was a thorn in Leavitt’s side with 126 all-purpose yards, about evenly split between his duties as a receiver and quarterback out of the wildcat formation.

“That kid’s a great player,” Hathaway said. “Once he gets in the second and third level, that’s not what you want. We coached that all week. They blocked it well and ran it well.”

“I don’t think the score indicated how close the game really was. I think Leavitt knows that. We made a few mistakes early and some momentum swung,” Morse coach Jason Darling said. “We played aggressive. We’ve got to improve our conditioning so we can maintain that for 48 minutes, but I’m awful proud of our guys tonight.”

Connor Upham connected with Tyler York for a 22-yard touchdown in the second quarter, answering a 1-yard TD by Craig on the first play of the period. James Lovitt kicked the extra point to put Morse in front.

Caleb Bowen returned the ensuing kickoff 30 yards, and Craig went up top to Green on the next play.

“They’re a well-coached team and certainly a very good team,” Darling said. “We were a missed tackle away and a few slips away. Certainly we realized we can play with them.”

Dillion Havener picked off a tipped ball and returned it to the Leavitt 3, setting up an Osmond scoring rush for a 22-14 deficit with 6:32 to go in the third.

Sirois’ consecutive runs of 4, 6 and 16 yards fueled the Hornets’ answer. Craig capped the drive with consecutive completions of 13 yards to Anthony DeGone and 27 to James.

“It was just staying patient, staying calm, watching the ball in,” James said. “Without Billy (Bedard, injured last week) out there, I had to step up.”

Bowen’s brilliant over-the-shoulder grab for 48 yards took Leavitt to the 1 and set up the Hornets’ final score, a dive by Rousseau, in the fourth.

Green finished with four catches for 126 yards. Craig found five different receivers in the second half.

Christian Callahan and Green each notched an interception of Upham.

“Every team is good, to a certain extent,” Craig said of Leavitt’s new league. “They bring the heat every week. It’s good to have these tough games early in the season so we can be prepared.”

koakes@sunjournal.com

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