BELFAST – In a classic example of a player mirroring his entire team, Belfast tailback Jeff Parenteau slipped, twisted, spun, tromped, bulled and sidestepped his way by would-be tacklers all afternoon as he led his Lions to a come-from-behind, 23-7 victory over York.

In what may prove to be a preview of the 2001 Class B state championship game, the 3-0 Lions survived a bad start and a first half in which they were manhandled by 2-1 York’s big defensive line thanks to a couple of game-changing plays just before halftime and a second half, smash-mouth offensive attack led by Parenteau.

Belfast was trailing the Wildcats 7-3 late in the first half and York was driving into Lions’ territory to try and tack on some more points before halftime. On third-and-one from the Lions’ 44-yard line, York coach Randy Small called a pass play and senior quarterback Chris Kiernan unloosed a pass down the right side. Junior defensive back John Lear broke away from coverage, lunged up and intercepted the ball at the B-30 before returning it 30 yards. A late-hit penalty moved the Lions all the way to the Y-23 and they wasted no time exploiting their good fortune.

Belfast quarterback Ben Cowan hit wingback Colby Horne with a 23-yard floater pass on the right sideline and Horne scampered into the end zone virtually untouched for a touchdown with 11.4 seconds left in the half.

“Right before the half, the interception was on a gamble,” Small said. “We were close, but we needed to be a little closer. It backfired and then they scored on broken coverage even though we knew it was coming.”

The play changed the momentum and it lasted well past halftime as the Lions roared out the locker room with a 14-play, 79-yard scoring drive that ate 5:10 off the clock and ended with Matt Welch’s two-yard TD run off right tackle with 6:43 left in the third quarter. Seven Parenteau runs in the drive accounted for 49 of his game-high 179 yards, 120 of which came in the second half.

“He just took over the game there in that first drive of the second half,” said Belfast co-coach Butch Arthers. We’ve told him that when he gets more than two guys on him to go down please, but he won’t do it.”

No, the 5-foot-5, 150-pound back wouldn’t, much to York’s chagrin.

“He’s big in the legs down low and you think you can get a shot on him, but he ducks and dips and you go over the top of him,” said Small. “The only way to stop him is to blow up the line in front of him.”

And that’s something the Wildcats were doing a lot of in the first half, but the switch in momentum and a couple of Belfast personnel changes seemed to stunt York’s defensive pressure later on.

“We couldn’t trap, but we couldn’t do it effectively today because they were so much bigger than we were, so we went with a lot of misdirection and hitting the hole faster,” said Lions co-coach Butch Richards.

The Lions’ line of centers Derek Greeley and Stanley Piper (Piper played the first half and Greeley the second), tackles Aaron Boguen and Zach Gallant, and guards Reid Woodbury and Devin Potvin – with help from ends Tim Aldus, Adam Gregory and Chris Duval – paved the way up front for Parenteau.

Meanwhile, Belfast’s defense was also improving as it limited York to two first downs, held Kiernan to 11 yards passing, and limited veteran senior tailback Nate Schoff to 21 yards rushing in the second half.

A key move was limiting Horne, who was coming off a shoulder injury, to defense only in the second half. He held York star receiver Nolan Patten without a catch after Patten torched the Lions for 63 yards on four catches in the first half.

“We needed Colby defensively to cover Patten. I don’t think anyone else on our team could cover him,” said Arthers.

Belfast iced the game with another long drive, this one an 11-play drive eating up 53 yards and five minutes before Parenteau ended it with a seven-yard TD run with 26 seconds to play.

“We just needed a drive, but it’s tough to drive when you don’t have the ball,” Small said. “Give credit to Belfast. They came out, lined up, and beat us. Last year it helped us to get beat by them … We needed to get beat, we needed a reality check, and this was a good day for it.”

Lions 23, Wildcats 7

York (2-1) 0 7 0 0? 7

Belfast (3-0) 0 9 7 7?23

Y ? Sanborn 1 run (Patten kick)

B ? Horne 31 field goal

B ? Horne 23 pass from Cowan (rush failed)

B ? Welch 2 run (Horne kick)

B ? Parenteau 7 run (Horne kick)

York Belfast

First downs 7 20

Rushing att.-yards 24-85 59-250

Passing comp.-att. 6-18 3-5

Passing yards 74 39

Total yards 159 289

Punts-avg. 5-43.8 4-31.0

Fumbles-lost 2-0 2-0

Intercepted by 1 3

Penalties-yards 8-85 6-45

Rushing

York: Schoff 17-72, Sanborn 5-15, Boush 1-1, Kiernan 1-(-3); Belfast: Parenteau 31-179, Welch 12-48, Horne 2-17, Cowan 12-5, Reynolds 2-1

Passing

York: Kiernan 6-18-3-74; Belfast: Cowan 3-5-1-39

Receiving

York: Patten 4-63, Zacharias 1-9, Sanborn 1-2; Belfast: Horne 3-39

A? 800 (est.)