BRUNSWICK – Brunswick’s Owen Richardson had a memorable season opener.

On Saturday on Bowdoin College’s Whittier field turf, Richardson, a senior, rushed for 164 yards and two touchdowns in Brunswick’s 48-7 victory over Skowhegan.

“I was nervous at first, those first-game jitters, but I was happy to get back out there with the boys. It seemed natural,” said Richardson, who generated 41 of Brunswick’s 82 yards on that opening drive. 

However, the opening march seemed to stall for the Dragons. Facing a fourth down and 13 from the Skowhegan 27-yard line, quarterback Noah Goddard found receiver Chandler Coombs for a 16-yard pass play and a first down at the 11. Two plays later, Leinert plowed into the end zone. 

“We don’t get that, they get a little life, you never know what happens,” said Brunswick coach Dan Cooper, who felt his team’s ability to mix things up on offense helped move the ball, as the Dragons generated 448 yards of offense in the game. “We try to make sure we threaten all parts of the field, the quarterback and the running backs. We have some skill, and I feel we will get better.”

Skowhegan struggled in the first half with ill-timed penalties, along with a handful of bad snaps that led to big losses on offense.  

“We had a lot of drive killers, too many penalties and bad snaps,” said Skowhegan (0-1) coach Ryan Libby after his team committed eight penalties for 60 yards. “Defensively, we couldn’t get off the field. We had them early with a couple of long third downs, and a long fourth down, and they came up with the plays that they needed.”

Cody Larson had a solid game on both sides of the ball for the Dragons, picking up 70 rushing yards and adding an interception of a Green pass late in the first half. Hathaway chipped in 38 yards on the ground as the Dragons ran for 407 yards. Jacob Musica finished the scoring with a 4-yard TD run with 6:44 left. 

Quarterback Cam Green was 19-of-31 in the air for 188 yards for Skowhegan, with Mason Fitzgerald (nine catches, 85 yards) and Cam Louder (6-59) his two favorite targets. Spencer Wyman led the Skowhegan defense with an interception and six tackles.