Lynx roll past MCI Balance key in 2nd victory

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LINCOLN – With a full moon shining down on Curry Field on a crisp, cool and clear Friday night, it seemed somehow appropriate that the cats would be the ones chasing the dogs.

This battle of football unbeatens didn’t feature much in the way of suspense as the Mattanawcook Academy Lynx ran roughshod over the Maine Central Institute Huskies, scoring on their first five possessions en route to an emphatic 60-0 victory.

The 2-0 Lynx piled up 384 yards rushing and averaged 8.7 yards per carry. The rushing attack was so proficient, senior quarterback Shey Gardner was the one to lead the way with 140 yards on the ground.

“They were leaving the middle really vulnerable to us,” Gardner explained. “They were stacking their inside tackles and their linebackers outside of our guards, so we were doing dive, quarterback sneaking, and trapping, so the middle was wide open and as long as we could break one arm tackle, we were gone.”

Gardner was gone for a 47-yard touchdown run off right tackle four plays into the game to set the tone. He was untouched on his only TD run of the game.

Gardner wasn’t the only one to be untouched. MCI’s defenders weren’t able to lay so much as a hand on the Lynx in some plays because of the blocking exhibition put on by center Matt Brown, left guard Nathan Nevells, twin brother and left tackle Ian Nevells, right guard Evan Haskell, right tackle Dan Lifer and tight end Isaac Young.

“We felt we had some opportunities to run the ball up the middle and we have some good people up there,” said MA coach Art Greenlaw. “We have a lot of weapons. We’re not as big in the backfield as we were last year, but we’re pretty experienced up front and they make up for it.”

Gardner ran the ball seven times and averaged a whopping 20 yards per carry. He also completed three of four passes for 61 yards and two touchdowns.

All told, the Lynx used 11 different ballcarriers. Even freshman quarterback Josh Pelkey got in on the act and scored two rushing TD’s late.

“They just pounded us,” said MCI coach Tom Bertrand, whose Huskies of Pittsfield are now 1-1. “We didn’t get to spots and make plays, while they were executing really well.”

The Huskies came in banged up, but were hamstrung by the absence of senior tailback quarterback Victor Quint, their do-everything difference-maker the last two seasons.

“He was injured last week. He’s got a shoulder injury and an abdominal muscle pull,” Bertrand said. “We had to make a decision because he’s not 100 percent and if we’d put him in, he would have just reaggravated it. Victor not playing didn’t make that much of a difference in the game.”

It did for Gardner and MA’s defensive game plan.

“He’s their big gun and key player. I was actually going to monster or play man on him defensively, but we got here and he wasn’t suited up. There went that,” Gardner said, rolling his eyes. “But it freed our secondary up a lot since we didn’t have to focus on one man. We could play more basic defense and our normal game with him gone.”

The Lynx limited MCI to 1.6 yards per carry for 56 total. The Huskies tallied 118 yards passing, but quarterback Zach Doiron was intercepted twice and sacked three times. The Huskies were also harried into six fumbles, but recovered all but one.

LYNX 60, HUSKIES 0

MCI (1-1) 0 0 0 0 – 0

Mattanawcook (2-0) 20 14 12 14 – 60

MA – Gardner 47 run (Jipson kick)

MA – Vose 1 run (kick blocked)

MA – Libbey 21 pass from Gardner (Jipson kick)

MA – Libbey 29 pass from Gardner (Jipson kick)

MA – Smith 47 interception return (Jipson kick)

MA – Vose 1 run (Jipson kick)

MA – Braley 64 run (kick blocked)

MA – Pelkey 3 run (rush failed)

MA – Pelkey 10 run (White rush)

MCI MA Lynx

First downs 11 18

Rushing att.-yards 36-56 46-384

Passing comp.-att. 10-22 3-4

Passing yards 118 61

Total yards 174 445

Punts-avg. 6-19.5 0-0

Fumbles-lost 6-1 2-1

Intercepted by 0 2

Penalties-yards 6-30 6-55

Rushing

MCI: Bennett 8-19, Rowe 6-16, Miller 6-9, Jones 3-8, Wilson 2-7, Roland 2-4, Delaney 1-2, Connors 1-0, Doiron 7-(-9); Mattanawcook: Gardner 7-140, Braley 2-67, Vose 8-59, Libbey 3-33, Smith 7-33, Pelkey 4-19, Perry 4-17, Hand 3-16, White 4-3, Nickerson 1-(-1), Birmingham 3-(-2)

Passing

Passing stats listed: comp.-att.-int.-yds.

MCI: Doiron 10-22-2-118; Mattanawcook: Gardner 3-4-0-61

Receiving

MCI: Delaney 3-40, Connors 3-28, Rowe 1-20, Harvey 1-15, McGrady 1-8, Jones 1-7; Mattanawcook: Libbey 2-50, Vose 1-11

A- 400 (est.)