THORNDIKE — With a receiver like sophomore Caleb Solomon, Houlton quarterback Will Belyea knows he just has to get his throws close.
“Oh my God, he’s crazy. He goes up and gets everything,” Belyea said.
Monday afternoon at Mount View, the Belyea-Solomon connection made it look easy. Solomon caught five of Belyea’s passes for 111 yards, three going for touchdowns, to help the Shiretowners roll to a 40-0 win over the Mustangs in the Little Ten Conference opener for both.
The game was postponed from Saturday because of rain in the area.
Noah Reynolds added 110 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns, as Houlton manhandled Mount View at the line of scrimmage throughout the game. The Mustangs had negative yardage for most of the game, until a pair of fourth quarter drives helped them finish the game with 33 yards of offense.
“They loaded the box and dominated us. They dominated us all day,” said Mount View coach Rick Leary, who played without starting quarterback Brady Moulton, out with a shoulder injury suffered in the preseason.
After a scoreless first quarter, Reynolds’ 10-yard touchdown run with 10:08 to play in the second quarter gave the Shiretowners a 6-0 lead. Chris Caswell’s 44-yard punt return with 7:30 to play in the first half doubled Houlton’s lead to 12-0. With 13.8 seconds left before the break, Solomon caught his first touchdown pass, a six yard fade from Bilyea to the left corner of the end zone for an 18-0 cushion.
The Shiretowners offense started to click when they sped up the pace and went to a hurry up attack.
“It’s not hard at all. We condition a ton thanks to Coach (Mike) Carlos. We aren’t tired, and the goal is to tire out the other team,” Bilyea said.
Houlton scored three more touchdowns in the third quarter. Solomon caught a 29-yard pass from Bilyea, scoring after the defender slipped trying to make the tackle. Reynolds scored on a 15 yard run for a 32-0 lead. Solomon’s third touchdown, caught when he outleapt a pair of Mustangs, went for 25 yards and came on the final play of the third quarter.
“This is a huge way to get into the season. This is our first road shutout,” Bilyea said.
Now, the Mustangs have a short turnaround for a game Friday at defending conference champion Foxcroft Academy.
“It’s not going to be easy,” Leary said, “but we’ll load up and break down the film and try and figure out what we did wrong.”
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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