BANGOR – The Bangor High School football team was unable to generate a drive lasting more than six plays in its 2007 season opener against Messalonskee of Oakland on Friday night.

That’s only because a newly installed Wing-T offense sent the Rams’ ground game into orbit – producing six touchdown runs of 31 yards or longer as Bangor outscored the Eagles 54-18 at Cameron Stadium.

“I’d say it’s right on track,” said Bangor coach Mark Hackett of the Wing-T, which averaged 15.4 yards per carry. “I don’t know how it could be much better. It’s almost like everything we do works and if it doesn’t work in a particular instance it works the next time we use it.”

Not only did the Rams gobble up huge chunks of yardage, they never had to punt and committed just one penalty, that on a kickoff that bounced out of bounds.

“I just think the kids are loving it,” said Hackett. “It looks like fast-break basketball to me, it’s just all over the place and it stretches the field both vertically and horizontally. It’s fun to watch.”

Senior fullback Kyle Vanidestine led the way, rushing for 180 yards and four touchdowns on 11 carries, while senior tailback Shane Walton – who nearly was scratched from the lineup after suffering a leg injury earlier in the week – added a 77-yard kickoff return for a touchdown as well as a 31-yard TD run on Bangor’s first possession.

“All our guys came out ready to play with a lot of energy and our line was opening up holes and blocking,” said Walton. “It just worked for us.”

Adam Billings added a 51-yard scoring run and Lonnie Hackett scored from 31 yards out for Bangor, who rushed for 375 yards on just 24 carries.

“I can definitely see improvement in the offense just with this game,” said Vanidestine, who scored touchdowns on runs of 35, 6, 54 and 43 yards. “Starting the game off the holes were opened wide and once our running backs get through that line, it’s tough for the DBs to stop us. The line did a great job opening holes.”

Fourteen different Bangor linemen contributed to that effort, a contingent led by starters Andrew Riley, Tyler McDade, Steven Schley, Jory Tracy and Sam Martin along with tight end Ryan Weston.

“We definitely started to hit more this week,” said McDade. “We just started to put our masks on people more and got a little more physical and opened up holes for the running backs, which is just what we want.”

Bangor scored on its first five possessions to build a 34-6 halftime lead, but Messalonskee came out in the third quarter maintaining its willingness to compete.

The Eagles used their double-wing attack to put together an 18-play, 79-yard drive that took 8 minutes, 33 seconds off the clock before workhorse fullback David Hash capped off the march with a 4-yard scoring run to pull Messalonskee within 34-12.

But as quickly as the Eagles captured a droplet of hope on this showery evening, Bangor evaporated it with a single play.

On first down after the subsequent kickoff, Vanidestine went right up the middle 54 yards for a touchdown – on what was Bangor’s only play from scrimmage in the period.

“Offensively we were able to move the football and we were real proud of that part of it,” said Messalonskee coach Wes Littlefield, “but defensively it just seemed to be like the open sea out there and we weren’t tackling anybody.”

Messalonskee finished with 301 rushing yards on 65 carries, with Hash moving piles throughout the evening to amass 155 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries. Wingback Adam Breton contributed 62 yards and junior quarterback Matt Stuart scored on a 3-yard first-quarter run.

But the Eagles simply couldn’t stop a Bangor offense still getting used to a new formation.

“We’ve said it all along that this offense is a process and it’s going to get better week by week,” said Rams’ quarterback Ian Edwards, who completed 3 of 4 passes for 36 yards. “As long as our line keeps their blocking assignments Shane and Kyle are going to be just fine, and we’ve got Billings, too.

“If we can keep progressing throughout the season, it will be something special.”

RAMS 54, EAGLES 18

Messalonskee (0-1) 6 0 6 6 – 18

Bangor (1-0) 20 14 7 13 – 54

Scoring summary goes next

B-Walton 31 run (Vanidestine kick)

M-Stuart 3 run (kick failed)

B-Walton 77 kickoff return (Vanidestine kick)

B-Vanidestine 35 run (kick failed)

B-Billings 51 run (Vanidestine kick)

B-Vanidestine 6 run (Vanidestine kick)

M-Hash 4 run (rush failed)

B-Vanidestine 54 run (Vanidestine kick)

B-Vanidestine 43 run (Vanidestine kick)

M-Hash 48 run (rush failed)

B-L. Hackett 31 run (kick failed)

Messalonskee Bangor

First downs 16 7

Rushing att.-yards 65-301 24-375

Passing comp.-att. 2-6 3-5

Passing yards 9 36

Total yards 310 411

Punts-avg. 2-29.0 0

Fumbles-lost 5-2 1-1

Intercepted by 0 0

Penalties-yards 1-15 1-5

Rushing

Messalonskee: Hash 22-155, Breton 16-62, Stuart 14-48, Exner 7-25, Boyce 3-7, Bender 1-4, Nutter 1-2, Sucy 1-(minus-2); Bangor: Vanidestine 11-180, L. Hackett 3-79, Billings 3-66, Walton 5-47, Farnham 1-6, Edwards 1-(minus-3)

Passing

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

Messalonskee: Stuart 2-6-0-10; Bangor: Edwards 3-4-0-36, Pembroke 0-1-0-0

Receiving

Messalonskee: Pelletier 1-10, Hash 1 (minus-1); Bangor: Weston 2-20, Vanidestine 1-16

A-550 (est.)