GARDINER — Fryeburg Academy has developed into a solid contender in Class C Campbell Conference play. Friday night, Gardiner learned why.

The Raiders bottled up the Tigers running game, holding them to 39 yards on the ground and making big plays when needed en route to a 32-6 victory.

The win leaves the Raiders at 4-1 while Gardiner falls to 1-4.

Senior back Cody Gullikson rushed for three touchdowns and caught a 49-yard pass for another to lead Fryeburg’s offense.

“I get the ball a lot,” Gullikson said. “We’re coming together great. After losing to Leavitt it really woke us up a little bit. Our offensive line really stepped up.”

The Raiders scored twice in the second quarter to take a 12-0 lead, the second score coming on a 49-yard pass play from Oscar Saunders, who found a wide open Gullikson in the Gardiner secondary. Gardiner responded with its only drive of the game set up by Nate Malinowski’s 36-yard kickoff return. Cam Michaud capped the drive with a 4-yard run around the right side, but there was little from the Tigers offense after that.

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“They’re a good football team,” Gardiner coach Joe White said. “We knew that coming in. You can’t make mistakes. We tried to move the ball, throwing picks and we tried to establish the run. Hats off to them they played a fantastic football game.”

Forced to the air, Gardiner quarterback Cole Heaberlin had little time to throw. He completed 7 of 12 passes for 49 yards and threw two interceptions, both to junior Nathan Knapp. He was also sacked twice.

“We were just throwing a lot at them,” said Gullikson, who also plays linebacker. “When they were going with that empty (set) we blitzed two backers. We were getting pressure and our front three were doing a great job getting pressure too.”

Saunders completed 10 of 17 passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns. He completed all three of his passes in the second half, including a 16 yard touchdown toss to Cobey Johnson. Once the Raiders got a comfortable lead, they kept the ball on the ground behind Gullikson and Jared Chisari.

“We were hoping we could pound it at them,” Fryeburg coach David Turner said. “But they didn’t give us much.”


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