PARIS — The Portland High School football team was simply trying to live in the moment Saturday.

The Bulldogs are still smarting from an emotional and physical victory against Windham last week, and they play another rival in Cheverus next week. As hard as it might have been to stay focused on the task at hand against Oxford Hills Saturday, the Bulldogs managed just that.

Portland scored on its first two possessions and broke the game open by halftime in a 41-0 win over the Vikings.

“It’s kind of a trap game because we’re in between Windham and Cheverus, two arch rivals for us and two emotional games,” Portland coach Jim Hartman said. “Our kids were half in the Cheverus game. No offense to Oxford Hills. That’s just the way it is. And it was a real emotional win last week against Windham. So I was really pleased that we were able to come out and hold serve.”

The Vikings (0-4) found themselves behind early and that made it tough for Oxford Hills to slow the Bulldogs (4-0) early momentum. Before the Vikings even had a second possession, Oxford Hills was already down 14-0.

“We got in the hole pretty quick again,” Oxford Hills coach Mark Soehren said. “Last week, we did, too. It’s hard to comeback from that. We told the kids to try to have a better second half and we did.”

Portland took to the ground game early and made it work for them. The Bulldogs totalled 230 yards on the ground while the Vikings managed just 38. George Chaison-Lapine rushed for 155 yards on 15 carries and scored two touchdowns. Joe Esposito scored three touchdowns and rushed for 60 yards on 16 tries.

“That’s our focus,” Esposito said of the ground game. “We know we can run the ball. We want that to be our strength. And the pass can come second. I thought it was a nice balance with what we can do.”

Portland only completed four passes but that was for 83 yards. Quarterback Issiah Bachelder threw three touchdown passes.

The Vikings couldn’t produce an offensive output to counter the Bulldogs. Oxford Hills managed just 38 yards on the ground on 27 carries and six completions for 47 yards. Oxford Hills had some success with a few passes down field and mixing quarterback snaps between Connor Truman and Matt Smith had some success.

“We struggled a little bit trying to establish things,” Soehren said. “We had to use two quarterbacks today and run a little bit with one and throw with the other. There were some mistakes and some dropped balls. If we converted some of those third and fourth downs, I think we could have established something a little more offensively.”

Portland had the first possession of the game and marched down field for a score with 9:00 minutes left in the first quarter. Bachelder connected with Esposito on a 36-yard pass play for the 7-0 lead.

After Oxford Hills punted following three plays on its first possession, Portland scored again. This time, it was Chaison-Lapine with a 42-yard run for the 14-0 lead with 6:41 left in the first quarter.

“It gets in their heads,” Esposito said of the early lead. “I know if I started a game down 14-0 or anything like that, it gets in your head and you start thinking differently. If you can get in their heads like that, it really helps a lot.”

Portland made it 21-0 by winning a field position battle. After hemming the Vikings in deep in their own end, an Oxford Hills punt was returned, setting up the Bulldogs at the 15. Two plays later, Esposito took it in from the 7 with 8:13 left in the half.

“We’ve come up here the last two years and they played us tough on the run,” Hartman said. “So I was really pleased that we could run the ball. He’s got a good scheme. They’re tough kids. They’re linemen are pretty good. We game-planned hard for them. We knew the holes that would be open and they were open.”

Portland finished the first half with another score. Chaison-Lapine finished off a drive from the 4 for a 28-0 lead with 14 seconds left in the half.

Portland finished the first half outgaining the Vikings 221-40.

“They’re defense is great,” Soehren said. “They’re a great team. Their kids played hard and they played fast. I don’t know how many kids they subbed in. It’s not many. They’re kids don’t look tired at all. We knew they were a ball pressure defense and we knew they were going to get us a few times.”

Portland added to the lead quickly in the third. Oxford Hills fumbled the kickoff. The Bulldogs recovered and turned that into a 34-0 lead with 11:07 left in the third. Bachelder hit Esposito on a 16-yard pass.

After Oxford Hills failed to move the ball on its next possession, the Bulldogs completed the scoring with 7:26 left in the third. Bachelder hit Nick Archambault on a 12-yard pass play.

The Vikings had a pair of longer drives in the second half. One ended on an interception by Dylan Bolduc.

“We had some opportunities,” Soehren said. “We caught the ball and moved the ball a little bit. We just couldn’t sustain those things. I told the kids to hold their heads up. They played hard against an excellent team. We’ve just got to start putting it together and start sustaining some of those good moments for a full drive. If we can do the things we’re capable of doing, we can move the ball.”

kmills@sunjournal.com

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