The Orono High football team knew what it had coming back this fall in senior halfback Mardy Simon, who rushed for more than 1,200 yards as a junior in helping the Red Riots earn an LTC Class C playoff berth.

But the magic of the Oklahoma split-T offense used by coach Bob Sinclair’s club rests partly in its misdirection and deception, and for that offense to succeed the team using it needs several rushing options.

Options No. 2 and 3 came to the forefront Friday night as the Red Riots knocked off previously unbeaten Rockland 56-14 on Homecoming weekend in Orono.

Simon rushed for 217 yards and a TD on 14 carries, and returned a punt for a score.

Equally important was the work of fullback Nyasha Millard (16 carries, 118 yards and 4 TDs) and tailback Travis Dunton (13-74) behind a line that included Matt Baker, Colby Caruso, Rob Chauvette, Dustin Nevells and Brad Russell.

“Offensively the big thing for us was getting more balance into our attack,” said Sinclair, whose team averaged 8.4 yards per carry while rushing for 446 yards against Rockland. “We know what Mardy Simon is capable of doing, but the question was could our fullback and right halfback step up.

“You look at the number of carries they had. We don’t chart that during the game, but that’s the kind of balance we’re looking to get.”

Orono had similar offensive balance last year among Simon, Mo Nazmy and fullback Dusty Thomas, and it helped the Red Riots post a 7-3 overall record and return to postseason play for the first time since 1996.

Nazmy and Thomas graduated, but Millard and Dunton have become comfortable executing their roles behind junior quarterback Jared Bussell, who emerged during the summer to replace the graduated Adam Chase.

“We play basic football at the most basic level,” Sinclair said. “We want to teach our kids to block and tackle and run. The kids know the system now after a year, and they know what to expect.”

Brewer means business

The Brewer Witches bounced back from a slow start at Gardiner last Friday night to bounce back from their first loss of the season.

Coach Ed Ortego’s club spotted Gardiner a 13-0 second-quarter lead before scoring 22 unanswered points en route to a 22-16 victory.

Key to that effort was the two-way play of senior Ricky Porter. On offense, the Brewer quarterback rushed for 204 yards on just 13 carries, including touchdown runs of 3 and 70 yards.

For Porter, it was a lesson learned from the previous week’s 26-20 loss at Waterville that proved pivotal to his success against Gardiner.

“We made a few mistakes early in the game, but we got better as we went along and we unleashed Ricky Porter,” said Ortego. “We probably blocked better, and against Waterville Ricky would get to the corner and stop, and we just had to keep him on the run. He just learned he had to keep going.”

On defense, the Brewer defensive back was credited with 10 tackles as the Witches limited Gardiner to 50 second-half rushing yards after yielding 153 in the first two quarters.

Linemen Matt Wilson and Jamie Ecker, linebacker Ben Caldwell and defensive back Ricky Adams also were defensive keys, with Wilson amassing two sacks, two tackles for losses and two quarterback hurries, while Ecker was credited with nine tackles.

The win leaves Brewer 2-1 heading into its Northern Division schedule.

“We were on the road the last two weeks against two tough teams,” said Ortego. “It’s good to finish that part of the schedule off. Now we’re playing our divisions against teams we know more about, they’re more of our rivals.”