WINSLOW — The Winslow High School football team was ahead just seven points at the half and knew it had to start taking advantage of opportunities provided by Boothbay, and start creating its own breaks.

The Black Raiders did just that.

Boothbay lost seven fumbles to the Black Raiders, and in the second half, Winslow turned four of those turnovers into 28 points. A close game quickly became a Black Raider rout, and Winslow left Poulin Field with a 42-7 win.

“They weren’t really holding on to the ball well,” said Winslow fullback Zack Guptill, who scored three touchdowns. “All week, we worked on stripping the ball and getting it back.”

Winslow, now 6-1, remains in the hunt for the top seed in the Campbell Conference Class C playoffs. Boothbay, now 2-5, saw its playoff chances dashed.

“This was the playoff, Super Bowl game for them,” Winslow coach Mike Siviski said. “We had a big win at Maranacook last week, and we were worried about coming out a little blasé.”

Any of Siviski’s worries about coming out flat were soothed with Winslow’s first drive. The Black Raiders went 70 yards in 13 plays, eating six and a half minutes of clock and scoring on a 1-yard run by Guptill. Dylan Hapworth’s kick gave Winslow a 7-0 lead.

The Seahawks answered when Jason Maddox scored on a 13-yard run with 1:50 left in the first quarter, but that was the offensive highlight for Boothbay. Quarterback Nick Kilgus left the game with an injury in the second quarter, leaving the Seahawks offense in the hands of freshman quarterback Daniel Drummond.

“Their quarterback got injured, and that really hurt their offense,” Siviski said.

Joe Hopkins (14 carries for 125 yards) scored on a 15-yard run on the first play of the second quarter to give Winslow the lead for good. After Winslow recovered a Boothbay fumble two minutes into the second half, Hopkins ran 41 yards for a touchdown and a 21-7 lead.

Guptill added touchdown runs of 4 and 3 yards in the second half, while Hapworth capped the scoring with a 14-yard touchdown run with 5:32 left in the game.

“We’ve been working on our counters and our fakes, and the line is just opening big holes,” Guptill, who ran for 65 yards on 14 carries, said.

Cormac Miller had 63 yards on 15 carries for Boothbay, while Kameron Markee added 61 yards on 10 carries for the Seahawks.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com