SKOWHEGAN — It took patience — perhaps a lot more patience than the Lawrence football team would have liked.

Yet it seemed — and in fact was the case — that a late statement from the Bulldogs was coming, something they delivered in posting a 32-7 victory over Skowhegan on Friday at Reginald Clark Memorial Field.

“We were kind of confident at halftime that we could play better, and we challenged them to do that, but it didn’t kick in right away,” said Lawrence head coach John Hersom. “I think you could tell in the second half we were playing harder, and in that fourth quarter, it just started coming together.”

Lawrence, which led just 14-7 entering the fourth quarter, scored three touchdowns in the final period to pull away in what had been a tight game. The Bulldogs racked up 402 total yards to Skowhegan’s 171 while forcing the River Hawks into four turnovers in the win.

“We really dialed in, and we realized you can’t fear any man,” said Lawrence’s Dustan Hunter-Bellows, who ran for 96 yards and three touchdowns on 10 carries on offense and had an interception on defense. “If you breathe oxygen, you bleed red, and it’s fair game.”

The first quarter belonged to Lawrence’s Michael Hamlin. The senior quarterback, who was 6 of 9 for 140 yards overall, passed for 117 yards in the opening period alone with two key passes to Cole Quirion, the first a 37-yarder on third-and-10 on the opening drive and the second a 58-yarder on the Bulldogs’ ensuing possession.

Both plays led to scores for Lawrence (2-1), which went up 7-0 on a 5-yard run by Bellows just three minutes in and 14-0 on a 17-yard run by Colton Carter (six carries, 68 yards) late in the first. Yet after a punt return put Skowhegan in good field position, the River Hawks capped off a 40-yard drive with a 2-yard run by Bryson Howard midway through the second quarter.

“I thought Skowhegan did a good job early of controlling our run game,” Hersom said. “The running of Hunter-Bellows, Preston Roy (13 carries, 93 yards, touchdown) and Colton Carter for us are going to be hard to stop against anyone, really, but they seemed to do that early on tonight, and they were able to stay in it.”

Skowhegan (0-3) drove to the Lawrence 12 early in the third quarter, but Keegan Littlefield, who had already notched an interception in the first half, picked off Jason Aubin in the end zone. Lawrence would turn it over on downs just past midfield, but Carter would then recover an Aubin fumble to give the Bulldogs possession again.

Hunter-Bellows scored on a 36-yard run two plays later to make it 20-7 with 11:07 to play, and three plays later, he would intercept Aubin. Roy then ran 50 yards for a touchdown with 9:12 to play to make it 26-7, and after forcing a Skowhegan turnover on downs, Hunter-Bellows ran for an 11-yard score with 6:02 left to seal it.

“I thought we controlled the game really well for three quarters minus a couple turnovers where we couldn’t finish drives and those couple big pass plays,” said Skowhegan head coach Brad Cyr. “I think we just got worn down and ran out of steam, but I was thrilled to death with the way we were playing and the effort.”

Skowhegan’s turnovers all seemed to come at the worst possible times. Littlefield’s first interception of Aubin (6 of 17, 71 yards, three interceptions) came after the River Hawks made two first downs to reach midfield, and the fumble recovery to end the third and two interceptions in the fourth all led to scores.

In addition to what Hunter-Bellows and Littlefield did for Lawrence in the secondary, the Bulldogs also got an impressive effort up front. Led by Brady Richards, Lawrence snuffed out Skowhegan’s run game with Aubin going for just 25 yards on 11 carries and Howard running for 32 on 13.

“(I got it done) with my team, and I played with my heart,” said Richards, who recorded a sack and 12 tackles at nose guard. “(There was) a fire under everyone, and we just kept it going.”