HAMPDEN — Everything went according to plan for the Cony football team Friday night.
The Rams needed just three plays from scrimmage and 47 seconds to put the first points on the Weatherbee Complex scoreboard and never looked back. Cony rolled to a 55-6 Pine Tree Conference Class B win over Hampden Academy, having relieved their starters of their duties by halftime.
There was no let up against a Bronco team that has won just once in the last two seasons.
“We just had to come in prepared and not let down, even though we’d beaten them in past years. We had to come out and compete,” Cony senior linebacker Mike Wozniak said. “Now that we’re getting a groove on, we’ve got to play each game like it’s our last.”
The Rams were sure not to overlook Hampden (1-5), and it showed in a 28-point first quarter and another 27 points in the second period. The game was contested entirely in running time in the second half.
“We’ve just got to come out and keep executing,” Cony head coach B.L. Lippert said of his pre-game message to his team. “Offensively, early in the year, we struggled in the red zone and kind of didn’t put up as many points as we probably should have. So we’re trying to build offensively, and our defense has been pretty outstanding all year long.
“It’s just (about) plugging away and improving in aspects of our game. I thought for the first half we did that pretty well.”
Sophomore quarterback Riley Geyer completed 11 of his 14 passes for 137 yards and five touchdowns for Cony (5-1), which has won three straight games. Geyer’s favorite target was Dustin Dyer, who caught scoring passes of 36, 19 and 6 yards.
Geyer found Dyer for 36 yards and a 7-0 lead before most fans had even found their seats.
“It gave us a boost, certainly,” Lippert said. “Our defense kept them in their end for most of that first quarter and we had some short fields offensively. We were able to extend the lead, which is a good feeling.”
Ashton Cunningham and Jamal Cariglia complemented the spread passing attack nicely, combining for 128 yards on the ground — all in the first half — with a touchdown run apiece.
That production stood in stark contrast to Hampden’s. The Broncos failed to make a first down in any of their four first-quarter possessions and had just 165 yards of total offense, nearly half of which came on a single 78-yard touchdown pass from Mike Raye to Kory Winch.
The damage was hardly limited to Cony’s offense and its more than 390 yards from scrimmage.
The Ram defense also produced a pair of touchdowns in the first half, each off one of Hampden’s three turnovers in the game.
“We had to keep it locked down,” Mike Wozniak said. “We couldn’t let any (big) plays happen, we couldn’t let any comeback happen.”
Wozniak returned a Raye (6 for 12, 94 yards) interception 23 yards for a score, and his brother Matt Wozniak picked up a fumble and ran it back 45 yards to the end zone.
“Michael, his interception, he read the play and he had an idea of what they were trying to do in that situation,” Lippert said. “He jumped the bubble screen, and Matt was in the right place. We work on scoop and score drills … and it’s not surprising Matt was the one to do it. He’s a really heady football player.”
Travis Barrett — 621-5621
tbarrett@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @TBarrettGWC
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