WATERVILLE — After struggling to move the ball in the second half of last week’s loss at Lawrence, the Winslow High School offensive line looked to regain some of its swagger against rival Waterville. Late in the first quarter at Drummond Field Saturday afternoon, the Black Raiders found it.

Winslow ran for 456 yards, averaging just over a dozen yard per carry to take a 57-10 win over the Purple Panthers. It was Winslow’s sixth consecutive win over Waterville, including playoff games in 2013 and 2014. Both teams are now 2-1.

“We had an awesome game. We all blocked great. I’m very proud of every single lineman,” Winslow co-captain Chris Jacques, a two-way lineman, said. “Just hard work and dedication. We needed this one. It was good coming off the loss to Lawrence.”

Each of Winslow’s eight touchdowns came on a play of 20 yards or more. For Waterville, which started the season 2-0 and allowing just seven points combined in those two games, surrendering the big plays was a step backwards.

“We play defense like we have all year in the first quarter, and all of a sudden, come out in the second quarter and it’s like we’ve never played defense before. In the third quarter, we come out and play more defense, and then it goes away again. The lapses in what we’ve been taught to do and focused on all week, that’s got to get fixed,” Waterville coach Matt Gilley said.

Neither team moved the ball well for most of the first quarter. Waterville’s best early chance to score came when Nick Wildhaber returned a punt 26 yards to the Winslow 13, but four plays later, Chase Wheeler’s 33 yard field goal try was blocked. Winslow’s first four drives all started at or inside its own 20, and the Black Raiders first three possessions ended with a fumble and two punts. On the fourth try, Winslow finally got rolling. Ryan Fredette capped the six play, 81 yard drive with a 42 yard touchdown run and a 7-0 lead with 56 seconds to play in the first quarter.

The Panthers answered with a 23-yard Wheeler field goal, cutting Winslow’s lead to 7-3. Then, Winslow’s Ben Dorval accounted for 156 all-purpose yards in three plays. First, Dorval ran 64 yards for a touchdown and a 14-3 lead. When Winslow forced the Panthers three and out on the subsequent drive, Dorval returned the punt 30 yards for a score. After another Waterville three and out, Winslow took over at their own 38. On the first play of the drive, Dorval went up the middle 62 yards for a score. Colby Pomeroy ran in the 2-point conversion, and Winslow had a 29-3 lead with 4:57 left in the first half.

Fredette added a 20 yard touchdown run with 1:11 to play, giving Winslow a 35-3 halftime lead. Dorval ran for 154 yards on 10 carries. Fredette added 149 on nine carries, all in the first half.

“We didn’t have any field position at all in the first quarter. We kind of played power football. We let our line do it. We’ve been working hard all week about improving, holding blocks, different things like that,” Winslow coach Mike Siviski said. “We just wanted to improve this week, and hopefully we did.”

Defensively, the Black Raiders held Waterville’s run game in check throughout the afternoon, limiting the Panthers to 91 yards and 2.8 yards per carry.

“Pound them. Just pound them,” Jacques said of the attitude of Winslow’s defensive line.

With two minutes left in the third quarter, Waterville scored on a 15-yard run by quarterback Jack Thompson, who threw for 72 yards and ran for 38. That drive was one of the few highlights for the Panthers, who need to play more consistent football, Gilley said.

“The energy and effort went away for certain periods, and Winslow cashed in. Against a good team, you can’t let up at all,” Gilley said.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM

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