Oxford Hills coach Ted Moccia wasn’t happy with his defense last week after it allowed Lawrence to take a 21-0 lead.

Meetings and personnel changes have solved those problems, Moccia hopes, because Bangor arrives in South Paris Saturday for the Vikings 1:30 p.m. homecoming contest.

“We didn’t come out quite ready to play defensively,” Moccia said. “And hopefully we’re going to because we need to be on Saturday.”

The Vikings racked up more than 400 yards against undefeated Lawrence last week but squandered seven opportunities inside the 20-yard line.

And that’s exactly what Bangor coach Gabby Price hopes to emulate.

“Their quarterback [Jimmy McClendon] is a great passer and they have great speed,” Price said. “They have a great counter-threat in [Miguel] Gonzalez.

“Most games come down to the fronts, who plays the best offensive and defensive front,” he said.

It’s a tune many coaches are humming as teams hunker down for the final three weeks of the regular season.

On Friday night, Bucksport travels to Stearns of Millinocket in an attempt to upend the LTC Class C’s top-ranked Minutemen, and Brewer goes to Old Town in an LTC Class B must-win situation.

In the PTC matchup, Bangor’s stingy defense will be faced with a powerful Viking offense, led by McClendon, who is ranked second in the conference’s passing stats with 821 yards and eight touchdowns.

The junior quarterback’s favorite target is sophomore wide receiver Daren Lewis, who leads the PTC in reception yardage with 484 on 17 catches and five touchdowns.

“Our best defense is our offense hopefully,” Moccia said. “If we can move the ball well, we’ll play well.”

But the Rams defense leads the league in fewest points allowed (38) and yardage allowed (797) over six games.

Junior Lucas Turner will step in for injured senior Jeff Guerette at defensive end, and junior Brian Webber will take over at center.

“Certainly [Gkuerette]’s a wonderful football player and a great person,” Price said. “The negative is we won’t have him. The positive is the kids now have an opportunity to show how much they love him.”

Brewer 3-3 (1-3) at Old Town 4-2 (3-1), Victory Field, 7 p.m. Friday.

The Indians are sitting pretty for the playoffs in fourth place but they also haven’t played Orono or Belfast, as the Witches have.

“They’re the best team we’ve played since Winslow, and obviously, they can play with [the Black Raiders],” Old Town coach Ian Braun said. “I knew they were young up front and all they had to do was get four or five games under their belts.”

Braun’s Indians will be keeping an eye on Brewer’s dangerous backfield combo of running backs Seth Burnes and Tom Dwyer, and quarterback Jeff Conlon.

Old Town welcomes back option quarterback Ryan Miller (shoulder), fullback Alger Yanush (thigh) and middle linebacker Josh Curtis (concussion). All three missed last week’s matchup with MDI.

Bucksport 3-3 (3-1) at Stearns 5-1 (4-0), Alumni Field, 7 p.m. Friday

Once again, the big guys on the front line will determine the winner of this matchup.

Stearns will attempt to clamp down on fullback Chad Gilley and quarterback Camost LTC teams with passing ability.

“They’ve always been a team that throws the ball more than the average LTC team,” Stearns coach Art Greenlaw said. “They have good receivers, and if you sell out to stop the pass, they’ll gang up on you with the run. If you try to stop the run, they’ll go outside.”

Bucksport’s enormous line must guard against the punishing runs of fullback John Montgomery and running backs B.J. Jandreau and Frank Bowley.