NEWPORT — Hampden Academy’s special teams was outscoring its offense, 2-0, after the latter failed to finish the job from inside Nokomis’ 10-yard-line on the Broncos’ first two possessions Saturday.

The Broncos solved their red zone woes on their third try, then showed they can be even more dangerous when they have considerably more real estate in front of them. as it ran away from Nokomis for a 40-8 victory.

Tommy Farrar threw for three touchdowns and sneaked in for two more scores from the one yard line for the Broncos. The strong-armed junior QB completed 13 of 23 attempts for 245 yards and two interceptions.

“I have unbelievable receivers on this team and they made me look good today. It was really all them,” Farrar said.

“We have several players that are super-good in space,” first-year Broncos coach Scott Flagg said. “That’s what we tried to do today, spread out the field a little bit and get Jake Black and Tyler Knights and Brendan McIntire the ball in space and let them do their stuff.”

Black caught three passes for 104 yards and a touchdown and also had two interceptions, returning one for a touchdown. Knights collected six receptions for 73 yards and a touchdown. McIntire caught three passes 53 yards and a touchdown.

After struggling to move the ball in the first half (58 total yards), the Warriors (0-2) made some big passing plays of their own in the second half. They pulled within 26-8 on Sam Whitmore’s six-yard TD pass to Isaac Thibodeau (and subsequent two-point pass) with 4:44 left in the third quarter.

But Hampden (1-1), which had five passes of 24 yards or more on the day, responded with its biggest play of the day.

On 3rd-and-12, Farrar threw to the left flat to Black, who sidestepped a Nokomis defender then got a great block from McIntire and sprinted down the left sideline for a 70-yard catch-and-run that essentially put the game away.

“I knew once I got past that first guy I had one guy to beat, and luckily Brendan was right there to lay that block, and it was just daylight,” Black said.

Hampden’s defense wasn’t allowing Nokomis much daylight early, but the offense couldn’t take advantage.

After stopping the Warriors on 4th-and-2 near midfield on the game’s opening drive, the Broncos marched to the Warrior 3 but stalled there despite getting an extra chance when Nokomis was called for pass interference on fourth down.

Nokomis gained three yards on three plays and had to punt from its own end zone. The snap went out of the back of the end zone, resulting in a safety.

Hampden started at midfield after the free kick and immediately came knocking on the door again when Farrar and McIntire hooked up for 39 yards. But the Warriors buckled down once more, pushing Farrar back for a four-yard loss on third down and stopping Black at the 2 on a fourth-down pass.

The Broncos, who moved Black up from his safety spot for run support, hemmed the Warriors in again, forcing another punt.

“They have a big front seven, so we tried to stuff the middle,” Black said.

Taking over at Nokomis’ 14, Hampden appeared poised to stall for a third time when Farrar threw to an ineligible receiver on second down. But on 4th and 6 from the 10, he rolled right and found Knights in the end zone for an 8-0 lead 1:21 into the second quarter.

“During the preseason and our first game (a 54-0 loss to Brunswick), I think one of our biggest struggles was punching it in once we get inside the red zone,” Farrar said. “Today we had a little bit of trouble with that to start, but I think we shook off that issue.”

On Hampden’s next series, Farrar completed passes of 36 and 30 yards to set up his first running TD. Knights recovered a fumble at Nokomis’ 30 on the ensuing kickoff and Farrar connected with McIntire on a six-yard TD pass to make it 20-0.

Black cashed in on his first interception, hauling in a deflected pass and returning it 48 yards to make it 26-0 with 1:13 left in the half.

“Our corner actually called out that he was going to run a slant. It was a good call because he ran the slant and I stepped up. I thought I was just going to meet him and give him a good hit, but Griffin ended up tipping the ball and I happened to be right there,” Black said.

Whitmore’s 48-yard pass to Thibodeau also drew a face mask flag on the Broncos at the end of the play, pushing the Warriors to Hampden’s 13. On 4th and 3 from the nine, Thibodeau ran a slant route and hauled in Whitmore’s strike to get the Warriors on the board.

Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638

rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @RAWmaterial33