LINCOLN – Just before the opening kickoff Friday night, Maine Central Institute head coach Bill Cowan turned to tailback Tom Twombly and said, “Make the first one a big one. Get a big one.”

So after Mattanawcook Academy was forced to punt five plays into its opening possession and both teams exchanged five-yard penalties to start MCI’s first drive, Twombly took the handoff, burst off right tackle, shed a tackler, cut right, and ripped off a 60-yard gain to the MA 10-yard line. Three plays later, he was in the end zone.

It was the first of seven touchdowns on the night for MCI – three by Twombly – and the opening salvo of an offensive fusillade as the Huskies of Pittsfield ended Mattanawcook’s 19-game winning streak in emphatic fashion with a 51-2 statistical shellacking of the Lynx on a clear, comfortable fall night at Alumni Field.

The win left both teams tied for second place in LTC Class C with 7-1 records.

“It’s an awesome win for us. I’m awful proud of them,” said Cowan. “These kids understand now they can win without [injured starting quarterback] Chadd [Bennett] and they understand we can run the football no matter what happens.”

What happened Friday was astounding: The Huskies had three different backs gain more than 100 yards en route to 449 total on 52 carries against a defense that had limited opponents to 88.6 rushing yards per game. In addition, MCI never attempted a single pass, punted only once, forced seven turnovers, shut out MA quarterback Dan Muncey in the second half, and limited the Lynx to 63 yards on the ground.

“After we lost Chadd and lost to Stearns, we were down and trying to find our character. I think we’ve found it the last two weeks,” said guard-linebacker Mike Susi. “Our team is identified by our offensive and defensive lines and both dominated tonight.”

Susi and his fellow linemen (Steve Weeman, Brian Wintle, Russ Mack, Bryce Holmes, Derek Saunders, and Eric Martin) were relentless on both sides of the ball.

“They’re so strong up front, it’s difficult for us to handle them man-to-man,” said MA coach Tom Whitney. “That may have been an eye-opener for our kids.”

After the Lynx mounted a 12-play, 52-yard drive to the MCI-13 on their second possession, MCI’s vise-like defense squeezed MA and MCI took over on downs after an MA completion came up two yards short of a first down.

On the next play, MCI fumbled an option pitch on its own 2-yard line through the back of the end zone for an MA safety. That was as close as the Lynx would get as, following a four-play possession, MCI took over and drove 89 yards on nine plays to make it 14-2.

With 11:37 left in the half, MCI nose tackle Mack hit MA quarterback Dan Muncey (10-for-21, 171 yards) as he was throwing. Wintle intercepted the pass, returned it six yards, and set up a 19-yard TD run by Twombly.

An MA fumble on the ensuing kickoff return was recovered by MCI’s Tyson Quint at the MA-20. Two plays later, MCI went up 28-2 on Twombly’s 16-yard TD run and fullback Ben Hall’s second-effort bull-rush two-point conversion.

But the horror show wasn’t over yet for the Lynx. Eight minutes later, Twombly cut in front of MA’s Delany Wilkes and made a diving interception at the MA-42. He then took the first-down handoff 42 yards for another score. A PAT pass from Tyson Quint to Chris Gerry made it 36-2 with 2:25 left in the half.

MCI started the second half the same way it began the game as the Huskies made it 44-2 with a seven-play, 69-yard TD drive to open the third quarter. After the kickoff return, Austin Fletcher picked off a Muncey pass and returned it 12 yards to the MA-31.

Six plays later, it was 51-2 and the game was all but over.

Twombly led the Huskies with 171 yards on 13 carries. Wingback Dan Riendeau had 147 yards and a TD on 13 carries, and Hall finished with 123 yards and three TDs on 17 rushes.

Huskies 51, Lynx 2

MCI (7-1) 8 28 15 0 – 51 Mattanawcook (7-1) 2 0 0 0 – 2

MCI – Twombly 3 run (Twombly rush)

MA – Safety, ball fumbled out of end zone MCI – Hall 2 run (pass failed) MCI – Twombly 19 run (rush failed) MCI – Riendeau 16 run (Hall rush) MCI – Twombly 42 run (Quint pass to Gerry) MCI – Hall 14 run (Hall rush) MCI – Hall 16 run (Hall kick)

MCI Mattanawcook

First downs 19 10 Rushing att. – yds 52-449 29-63 Passing cmp. – att. 0-0 10-22 Yards passing 0 171 Total yards 449 234 Intercepted by 4 0 Punts – avg. 1-37.0 4-34.0 Fumbles – lost 2-1 5-3 Penalties – yds 4-20 5-35

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – MCI: Twombly 13-171, Riendeau 13-147, Hall 17-123, Quint 2-10, McGowan 1-1, Lackie 4-(-1), Fletcher 2-(-2); Mattanawcook: Leighton 10-54, Markie 5-26, McCarthy 9-(-4), Woodman 1-(-6), Muncey 4-(-7)

PASSING – MCI: none; Mattanawcook: Muncey 10-21-3-171, McCarthy 0-1-1-0

RECEIVING – MCI: none; Mattanawcook: Weatherbee 4-76, Wilkes 2-46, McCarthy 1-21, Carney 2-12Leighton 1-16