LISBON – Run the ball effectively, stop the other team from running.

It’s an easy concept to memorize, but much harder to put into practice game after game. Somehow, though, Lisbon coach Dick Mynahan manages to implant that mantra into his players’ minds every time they take the field.

The Greyhounds stuffed a Mattanawcook offense that had scored 108 points in two games, holding it to 41 total yards, and scored four touchdowns of their own, posting a 27-0 victory Saturday over the previously unbeaten Lynx at a steamy Thompson Field.

“The defense played an outstanding game,” Mynahan said. “They had chances to get back into the game, especially in the second half, and the defense just came across big. We sent some blitzes at them from different angles than we’ve done in the past, and we kind of knew they would expect us to come up the middle, so we stayed away from that and went other ways.”

“Points are all relative,” said Mattanawcook coach Art Greenlaw. “The teams we had faced were a combined one-and-three or something, and we knew that. (Lisbon’s defense) played really well. They out-coached us, they outplayed us and the out-conditioned us. They handed us our heads.”

Neither team did much in the first quarter. Mattanawcook recorded the only first down of the period, only to punt the ball away four plays later.

“We have a great defense,” said senior linebacker Ryan Giusto. “Our tackles go down and we cover those gaps and to the outside, and its unstoppable.”

Giusto also contributed 47 yards on 12 carried as a running back.

Lisbon’s ability to slow the Lynx’s attack came as a bit of a surprise, even to the Greyhounds, due to Mattanawcook’s obvious size advantage.

“They were big up front like everybody knew,” said linebacker Dan Willis, who also ran for 65 yards and three touchdowns. “They probably outweighed us by 50 pounds a man, but bigger people move slower than the small ones and they sweat a lot more. We came out to play, and big plays happened.”

None bigger, perhaps, than a third Lisbon running back’s big scamper in the second quarter.

After a Mike Unterkoefler toss to Joe Stevens made it 7-0 with 10:33 to play in the first half, the Greyhounds got the ball back at their own 40. Two plays later, Stevens (7 carries, 51 yards) ran the ball 49 yards for an apparent touchdown. The play was called back, but the momentum clearly swayed in Lisbon’s favor.

Five plays later, Willis pounded the ball up the middle for a touchdown that did stand, putting the home team up 14-0.

In the third, Lisbon’s defense held the Lynx to 10 yards and one punt while also forcing a fumble at the Mattanawcook 20.

Willis scored his second touchdown of the afternoon shortly thereafter, and in the fourth added his third with 1:25 to play.

“They were a little quicker than we were and a little better than we thought they were on film, but we didn’t play well,” Greenlaw said. “If we’re going to be the kind of team we want to be, we have to beat teams like this.”