WALES — Lisbon has been in more close games than coach Chris Kates would prefer, but as the Greyhounds showed in Saturday’s season-finale at Oak Hill, they sure know how to close those close games out.
Lucas Francis and Cam Bourget returned two interceptions for touchdowns in the span of three plays with little more than a minute to play to put the pesky Raiders away, 47-27.
The result means the rivals will meet again next week on the other end of Route 9 for the No. 2 vs. No. 7 Class D South quarterfinal.
“It was back-and-forth all game. I told my kids we’re going to do plus-one sprints for every gray hair this put on my head,” said Kates, whose team improved to 7-1. “It’s been one of those seasons. We haven’t been able to put anyone away early, and it’s always been back-and-forth.”
With 5:38 remaining, Oak Hill (3-5) closed to within 34-27 on a 40-yard Gavin Rawstron touchdown pass over the middle to a juggling Caleb Treadwell.
The Raiders forced a fumble at their own 30 with 2:58 remaining and advanced to midfield on three runs by Rawstron (11 carries, 93 yards, 2 TDs). The sophomore QB dropped back from there and threw to his left, where Francis was waiting for the interception. He ran 55 yards untouched to make it 41-27 with 1:29 remaining.
“I came close a couple of times this game,” Francis said. “Gavin’s a good quarterback, so when you get an oppotunity to put a game away, it’s really important to take it.”
Bourget had to rumble through a lot more traffic for his pick-six two plays into the Raiders’ next series, but he also found paydirt to clinch it with 1:06 to go.
Lisbon stymied Oak Hill’s passing offense for much of the first half while building a 21-7 lead on two touchdown runs by Isaiah Thompson (17 carries, 168 yards, 3 TDs) and one by Bourget.
“They were hitting the flood pass on the sideline quite a bit. That was a point of emphasis and I’m a little upset with how successful they were with that,” Kates said. “But I was pretty happy with the pass defense overall.”
“I think as a unit, we worked together,” Lisbon junior defensive back Seth Leeman said. “We were talking on the field, and working hard during practice is definitely a huge key to our defense.”
Rawstron (9-for-22, 119 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs) found Sam Lindsay for a 15-yard touchdown to close the margin to 21-13 before halftime.
Lisbon opened the second half with Bourget’s second 2-yard TD run to make it 28-13. Oak Hill, in turn, came out in the double wing and pulled to within 28-21 on Rawstron’s 9-yard TD run and Reid Cote’s two-point run with 4:15 to go in the third quarter.
“The kids played hard. Lisbon’s a good team,” Oak Hill coach Stacen Doucette said. “I thought we ran the ball OK. I thought we did OK, but they’re a good football team.”
Thompson made it a two-score game again with a 39-yard touchdown run for a 34-21 lead with 10:01 to go.
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