WATERVILLE — It’s been a running theme this season for the Waterville football team.
Yes, the pun was intended.
The Purple Panthers racked up 498 offensive yards, 435 via the run game, in a 46-20 win Saturday against Mount Desert Island at Drummond Field.
Cam Thomas, AJ Godin and Jared Spear each rushed for two touchdowns to lead Waterville. Thomas gained 182 yards on 18 carries, while Spear had 107 yards on seven carries. Dan Pooler had 68 yards rushing while Alex Pressey added 43 from the ground for Waterville.
“We have a line that opens up some beautiful holes,” Waterville head coach Matt Gilley said. “As you’ve seen all season, we have a whole list of running backs that can hit that hole. It’s a really tough thing to plan for, I’d imagine. It’s the hard work of these guys 12 months out of the year. They’re working hard this season, but they’ve put the work in physically to be where we’re at now.”
The win sets up a battle of undefeateds for the top spot in Eastern C, when Waterville (6-0) travels across the bridge to play rival Winslow (6-0).
Two of the Purple Panthers’ touchdown runs came on plays over 50 yards. Thomas had a 58-yard touchdown in the second quarter, while Spear had a 57-yard run in the third quarter.
“We have a real big line,” Thomas said. “It was nice for them to just push everyone around and open those holes, just do what we have to do.”
The Purple Panthers only real adversary in the game was themselves. On back-to-back drives in the second quarter, Waterville fumbled the ball in its own territory, recovered both times by the Trojans (2-4). The Waterville defense stepped up on both drives, forcing a turnover on downs on the first series and a punt on the following one.
“They swarm to the football,” Gilley said. “You talk to anybody, MDI is a tough team to defend. You don’t see anything like it and they just pound the football. We just talked in terms of (the fact) it’s going to be a physical challenge on defense. We think we’re up to it. If it’s a gap football team, you have to control each and every gap. But the play spoke for itself; we had guys controlling the gap and they had a hard time moving the football.”
The Purple Panthers held the Trojans to 178 offensive yards. MDI running back Jalique Keene led the offense with 83 rushing yards on 15 carries.
The lone touchdown in the first quarter came on a 2-yard run by Godin on the first series, a play that capped a 16-play, 72-yard drive that ate 7:12 of clock. Chase Duguay’s extra-point gave the Purple Panthers a 7-0 lead. Thomas’ 58-yard touchdown run came on the following Waterville drive, upping the lead to 13-0.
“I just got the ball, saw the two (lineman) pulling, we blocked that safety and I just cut it right up,” Thomas said. “The whole was ginormous, it was huge.”
MDI responded on the following kickoff with a 51-yard return by Taner Bickford, placing the ball at the Waterville 29-yard line. Eight plays later, Trojans quarterback Colby Candage found receiver Isaiah Keene in the back of the end zone or a 5-yard touchdown pass. Billy Laverdiere’s extra-point cut Waterville’s lead to 13-7.
The Purple Panthers ran the two-minute drill to perfection near the end of the first half, going 89 yards on 10 plays before Godin found the end zone again on a 2-yard quarterback sneak. Godin hit tight end Trevor Grey with a pass for the 2-point conversion to head into halftime with a 21-7 lead.
Thomas scored his second touchdown of the game midway through the third quarter, heading left before cutting back up the middle of the field for a 28-yard touchdown run. Spear scored his first touchdown of the game on a similar play the following series, running up the gut before cutting right and reaching the end zone on a 20-yard run. By the end of the quarter, the Purple Panthers held a 34-7 lead.
MDI cut the lead again to start the fourth quarter thanks to a 1-yard touchdown run by Bickford, who set up his own touchdown following a 70-yard kick return, bringing the scored to 34-14. Waterville responded the following drive with Spear’s 57-yard touchdown run, lengthening the lead to 40-14. Devon Begin capped the Purple Panthers’ final scoring drive with a 7-yard touchdown run for a 46-14 lead. MDI added one more score on the final drive of the game — a 2-yard touchdown plunge by running back Colby Lee — for the final 46-20 score.
Bickford was a bright spot for the Trojans on special teams, collecting 145 return yards.
“We knew coming in that (Waterville’s) size was going to be a problem, we’re not a big team as far as stature,” MDI head coach Mark Shields said. “At times they pushed us around, but I was proud of our kids. I thought we battled for most of the day. At the end, we wore down (and) that’s what (Waterville) is doing; they wear teams down. It should be an interesting game next week with them and Winslow.”
Waterville split two games with their rival last year, beating the Black Raiders 25-21 in a thrilling contest in Waterville that ended on the last drive of the game. Winslow got revenge come playoff time, beating the Purple Panthers 49-18 in the regional final.
But that was last year.
“It’s a class act over there. They’re a physical team like us so we’re similar in a lot of ways,” Gilley said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun across the river on Saturday.”
Dave Dyer — 621-5639
ddyer@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @Dave_Dyer
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