WINTHROP – Lisbon has to tried to ignore Winthrop’s 2008 football statistics – they’re the kind of numbers that will make your eyes pulsate, anyway – and break down Saturday’s Western Class C championship game into simplest terms.

“We know yardage is going to come tough out there for us. We’re going to ask our line to give us a yard and have the backs give us a yard,” said Lisbon coach Dick Mynahan. “If we don’t get a first down, we’re going to come back and try to get another one. And if we get one, we’re going to feel the success and try to do it again.”

The Greyhounds (8-2) face the task of chipping an iceberg into a sculpture in the space of two hours when they confront the Ramblers (10-0) at 12:30 p.m. on rain-slicked Maxwell Field. If you don’t believe Lisbon has a puncher’s chance of pulling it off, well, you probably haven’t been paying much attention.

Lisbon won state championships in 1997, 2005 and 2006 and added a 2003 regional crown in Mynahan’s tenure. Together, Lisbon and Winthrop have won seven of the last 13 Campbell Conference crowns. They haven’t met in a final since 2000, when the undefeated Ramblers rolled and won the Gold Ball a week later.

Winthrop pitched its sixth shutout of the season and leveled Livermore Falls, 44-0, in the semifinals. Lisbon repaid Dirigo for a 24-7 opening-day loss with a 16-7 verdict in Dixfield.

“Lisbon gets better week-to-week. They’re well-coached. They do the little things,” said Winthrop coach Joel Stoneton. “We weren’t surprised to see Lisbon.”

Both teams have feasted off turnovers, whether it was an interception return fueling another Winthrop rout or a fumble recovery turning the tide for Lisbon in a tight game.

Quarterback Nate Blackwell and the all-hands-on-deck backfield of Josh Cote, Jake Cyr and Tobey Harrington give Lisbon the capability of grinding it out and making the opposition pay for mistakes eight minutes at a time. Alex Hall and Scott Eck are reliable receivers when down and distance dictate.

“Most of our games could have gone either way. We got big breaks in some games and got scores early and held on,” Mynahan said. “We’re not a real fancy team. We’re not a team that’s going to be real explosive against anybody. That’s the way we practice. Nothing has been given to us.”

Explosive is one of many words that apply to Winthrop, which scored three first-quarter touchdowns and cruised to a 24-6 victory in Lisbon two weeks ago. Neither coaching staff showed much of its hand from that point, giving the regular-season finale almost a preseason feel.

Winthrop has its own four-pronged backfield with speedsters Jake Steele and Riley Cobb and bruisers Skyler Whaley and Joe Morey. And while the Ramblers haven’t been forced to exhibit their passing game much, it’s certainly available in the person of QB Jordan Conant throwing to Andrew Smithgall, Zach Farrington and Jason Raymond.

“We played them a couple weeks ago, so it’s all fresh in our mind. We know what they can do and they know what we can do,” Stoneton said, his thoughts quickly turning to the weather. “It’s going to turn into a mud bowl. That takes away a dimension from both teams.”

End Kevin Hart (10 sacks), linebackers Steele and Smithgall and defensive backs Cobb and Farrington headline Winthrop’s defense, which has surrendered just over three points per game.

Sophomore linebackers Mike McNamara (130 pounds) and John Crafts (140) typify the grit of Lisbon’s opportunistic ‘D.’ Cyr, Hall, Eck, Art Stambach and Dan Schofield also are heavy hitters.

“They can score at any time. The first game they were up 21-0 before we got our feet on the ground,” Mynahan said. “We noticed on every one of their touchdowns that we had one or two or three people that had their hands on them and didn’t hold on. We’ve been working on trying to hold on and staying in our zones and playing our position. That’s all we can really do against a team like that and hope that it’s good enough.”

Both teams have a solid kicker – Blackwell for Lisbon, Farrington for Winthrop – who could play a pivotal role in a close contest. If experience gives an edge, it goes to the Ramblers, who fell to Boothbay 28-21 in last year’s final.

“A lot of kids have been talking this week that because it’s a gift they’ve been given and earned to get back here that they don’t want to let it slip by,” Stoneton said.