LISBON — That Lisbon’s longest first-half scoring drive took fewer than two and a half minutes to complete said everything about Saturday afternoon’s Class D matchup against Madison/Carrabec.
The Greyhounds needed only one play — and one yard from scrimmage — to convert the game’s first points and they rarely let up from there in a dominant first half of football which led to a 44-6 thumping of the Bulldogs at Thompson Field. Junior tailback Daytona McIver ran for 82 yards and three touchdowns, all in the opening 24 minutes, and sophomore quarterback Nick Ferrence completed four of his six passing attempts for 49 yards while running back a 71-yard pick six in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring.
The Greyhounds scored touchdowns on five of their six possessions in the first half. After an opening-week loss to Fryeburg, it was just the type of afternoon Lisbon (1-1) was looking for.
“We struggled last week, but we put the foot on the gas pedal (Saturday) and didn’t let up,” McIver said. “We had way more intensity and we worked as a team.”
But the offense wasn’t the only star of the afternoon for Lisbon.
Madison (0-2) accounted for just 73 yards of total offense, 78 of those coming in the final period alone. The Bulldogs’ first first down didn’t come until the second-to-last play of the first half when junior quarterback Bryce Willette ran for five yards up the middle to convert a third and short situation.
Willette threw incomplete on his first seven passing attempts of the afternoon with a pair of interceptions. As a whole, the Bulldogs produced minus-21 yards of offense in the first half and -5 yards through three quarters.
“We’re a young team with only three seniors out there,” Madison coach Paul Withee said. “We’re playing some of the better teams in our league, and it’s not going to get any easier for us. We realize we’re going to go through some growing pains. Hopefully, we can change the culture and the work ethic and do what we need to do to get better.”
“We do have some athletes that can break the game open, but ideally I’d like us to be a tough defensive team that grinds some drives out,” Lisbon coach Chris Kates said. “Maybe not score quite as quick sometimes, but I think today we were able to hit the holes hard. I’m really happy with the way they performed.”
It was an uphill battle from the start for Madison.
After a botched snap on a Bulldog punt attempt on the game’s opening possession, Lisbon started its day from the Bulldog 1. McIver quickly turned that into an 8-0 lead with both the one-yard run to paydirt and the two-point conversion rush.
“I wish every drive was like that,” Kates said. “I think our defense put us in a great position, and anytime we can get a short field like that we want to capitalize on it. I’m glad our defense was able to put us in that position.”
Another three-and-out for Madison and Lisbon needed only two plays to go 61 yards for another score, this time on a 29-yard run from senior Cam Bourget.
McIver added another one-yard touchdown run to make it 24-0 before the first quarter was through, but his best work came early in the second. The team’s second one-play scoring drive came with 7:57 left in the first half, when he ran 24 yards for a touchdown, breaking no fewer than four tackles and carrying a pile of Bulldogs with him en route to the end zone.
“I just put my head down and kept going,” McIver said. “I saw the end zone. As coach always says, ‘Smell the end zone,’ and I just got there.”
Riley Quatrano added another touchdown, this time from 23 yards out, to send Lisbon into halftime with a 38-0 lead.
The scoring wrapped up in the fourth quarter with Ferrence’s interception return for another touchdown. Willette’s 19-yard pass to Thomas Dean finally put Madison on the scoreboard with one minute remaining in the game.
The third quarter had a long delay for an injury to Madison junior Cam Melanson. Melanson was taken off the field on a stretcher, though school officials said after the game that he was expected to be fine.
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