LIVERMORE FALLS – Nate Blackwell’s extra point kicks seemed merely an afterthought as Lisbon built a 28-6 lead into the third quarter of Lisbon’s Campbell Conference battle with Livermore Falls.

The only suspense at the time was whether the strong-footed Blackwell’s kicks would blast off from Griffin Field and touch down onto the roof of Livermore Falls Middle School behind the end zone.

But a furious comeback by Livermore Falls made those kicks more critical by the moment, and by the end of the night, they, and a few other special teams plays, were ultimately the difference in a 28-24 Lisbon victory.

Despite having senior fullback Kyle Stebbins in street clothes on the sideline, the Andies (3-3) battled back with three fourth-quarter touchdowns, only to be stopped on their three subsequent two-point conversion tries. The Greyhounds (5-1) also recovered all three onside kick attempts by Livermore’s Chandler White to preserve the win.

“Momentum’s a funny thing,” Lisbon coach Dick Mynahan said. “I thought we played well for most of that game. They got momentum and we had had to hold on and did what we had to do when we had to do it. Extra points and special teams are a big part of the game.”

“We had some little things here or there, just mental mistakes, that we made,” said Livermore coach Brad Bishop, who declined to comment on Stebbins’ absence.

Special teams and a turnover helped the Greyhounds break open a 7-6 lead. Their 10-play, 63-yard scoring march on the game’s opening drive was their longest of the night. Tobey Harrington followed a huge hole on the left side for a 6-yard TD run and, with Blackwell’s kick, Lisbon took a 7-0 lead.

The Andies answered immediately with a touchdown drive of their own as Chandler White (27 carries, 101 yards) scored from two yards out. They lined up as if to kick the extra point, but holder Nate Michaud took the snap and tried to pass into the end zone for the two-point conversion. The throw was short, and the Andies never got closer.

Lisbon went three-and-out on its next possession, but Blackwell’s punt rolled past Livermore’s return man for 58 yards, all the way to the Andies’ 5. The shift in field position proved big as the Lisbon defense kept Livermore pinned and forced a punt from the 3. Lisbon took over at the Livermore 35 and, splitting the carries evenly between Harrington (10 rushes, 41 yards, two TDs), Josh Cote (nine rushes, 53 yards, TD), Alex Hall (11 rushes, 46 yards), and Blackwell (12 rushes, 25 yards, TD), marched to the end zone in 10 plays again, this time capped by a 5-yard Harrington run on fourth-and-goal.

“We had a lot of kids run the ball tonight. I thought coach (Stacen) Doucette did a really nice job, especially in the first half, of running to the best sides of the line for us. We had some pretty good play-calling,” Mynahan said.

Joe Doughty gave the Greyhounds a short field again by recovering a fumble on the Andies’ 34 on the first play of the ensuing drive. Blackwell ran around left end from the 8 to the end zone and made it 21-6 with the PAT.

Cote made it 28-6 on a one-yard run with 4:37 left in the third quarter.

After being limited to just 82 yards of total offense to that point, the Andies started taking advantage of Lisbon’s over-aggressiveness on defense to chew up big chunks of yardage on the ground. Michaud capped an 11-play, 65 yard drive with his QB sneak from a yard out, but the two-point run failed to keep in at 28-12.

Lisbon recovered the onside kick at its own 46 but was pushed back deep into its own territory by a couple of holding penalties. That gave the Andies good field position to start their next drive, their own 41. Jeff Ryder (seven rushes, 74 yards, TD) converted a fourth-and-2 with a 12-yard run down to the Lisbon 4 then, after White was stopped for a loss, scored from 6 yards out. Again the two-point run failed to keep it a two-possession game at 28-18 with 4:29 left.

Blackwell scooped up the ensuing onside attempt by White and returned it to the Livermore 48. Again, the Andies’ defense tightened, and Livermore fell on a bad punt snap to Blackwell at the Lisbon 15. Four plays later, Michaud snuck it in from a yard out to make it a four-point game with 1:18 remaining. Lisbon stopped Ryder just shy of the goal-line on the PAT run attempt, but by then, it was a moot point. All the Greyhounds had to do was fall on the next onside attempt, which they did, and run out the clock by taking the knee twice on offense.