WATERVILLE – Playing against the league’s two best offensive teams in back to back weeks can be challenging enough; containing those teams is something else.

After giving up only one touchdown last week against Belfast the Leavitt defense finally gave in as the high-powered Waterville Panthers rolled to a 35-6 victory at sunny Drummond Field Saturday afternoon.

“This is a tough league,” said Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway. “All the teams are good.”

Waterville scored on it’s first possession of the game. After taking the opening kickoff, Chris Smith ran in from 11 yards out for the game’s first score.

Leavitt came right back. Linebacker Mike McCann intercepted a Waterville pass and ran it back to the Waterville 35-yard line. Four plays later, Leavitt QB Evan Barker pitched the ball to split end Scott Redmun. Redmun faked the run, and found a wide open Tyler Millet over the middle for a 35-yard catch and run to make it a 7-6 game.

The Hornets had a golden opportunity to take the lead early in the second quarter. After Millett ran a Waterville punt back to the 20, Leavitt looked poised to score once again. But on fourth-and-one, the Waterville defense forced a Leavitt fumble and stalled the scoring chance.

“That was a big play,” said Hathaway. “You just can’t make a mistake like that against a good team like this.”

Waterville scored late in the second quarter. Needing only six plays, QB Nate Lancaster ran in from six yards out to give Waterville a 14-6 halftime advantage.

Waterville put the game out of reach with two scores in the third quarter. Once again, Lancaster ended an eight-play drive with a 12 yard scamper into the end zone.

“They came out and played real physical in the second half,” said Hathaway. “We didn’t really play downhill on defense like we’re capable of.”

After forcing a Leavitt punt on the next series, Lancaster scored his third TD of the game. This time he ran it in from 10 yards out. Chris Smith rounded out the scoring with a fourth quarter TD run.

“The first half we we’re just a little sloppy,” said Waterville coach Frank Knight. “They helped out a little bit with their ball security in the first half.”

With the win Waterville improves to 5-1. “We are looking to get a high seed in the playoffs and go from there,” said Knight.

Things don’t get much easier for the Hornets as they face undefeated Gardiner next Friday night.

“We’ll be anxious to play next Friday,” said Hathaway “We’re disappointed in the way we played today.”