Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

October 6, 2012

Thornton Academy-Windham game turns into a rout

The unbeaten Trojans trail early, are held to a 7-7 halftime tie, then score on four straight possessions.

By MARK JEANNERET Special to the Press Herald

WINDHAM - Andrew Libby ran for three touchdowns Friday night to lead Thornton Academy to a 35-14 victory against Windham in a Western Class A football game.

The Trojans (6-0) were in a tight game until Libby scored on runs of 5 and 4 yards on his team's first two possessions of the second half to create some breathing room with a 21-7 lead.

"We were kind of playing flat-line and not our (Thornton) level in the first half," said Libby, who also scored on a 3-yard run in the opening half.

"The plays were there, we just weren't completing the whole thing. Coming out in the second half we started to."

Windham (3-3) managed to keep the Trojans' powerful offense in check through most of the first half, limiting Thornton to 113 yards rushing and 22 passing.

It was that Eagles defense that led to their first score after forcing a fumble by Libby, who was trying to reach for a score on a second-and-goal situation.

Three plays after the recovery, Damien Shepard broke free for a 91-yard scoring run to give Windham a 7-0 lead.

Windham's defense continued to handle Thornton despite constantly being hindered by the Trojans' good field position.

Three times in the half the Trojans started a drive on Windham's side of the field, including one that began on the Eagles' 33.

That drive ended when the Trojans turned the ball over on downs on the 19.

"You can't give them such a short field," said Windham Coach Matt Perkins.

"It was one of those things and they have so many athletes and their playbook is wide open. When you are on offense and you are at the other team's 40, you know you're basically in four-down territory."

Thornton finally capitalized with two minutes remaining in the half. Libby scored his first touchdown of the game to cap a 46-yard drive that made it 7-7 at the half.

The field-position trend continued in the second half, when the Trojans quickly took the Eagles out of the game.

Thornton scored on its first four possessions of the half to build a 35-7 lead.

After Libby scored twice, Dakota Tarbox chipped in a pair of touchdown receptions, the first a 21-yard catch on a halfback pass from Dylan Morton.

A 44-yard catch of an Eric Christensen pass followed to make it 35-7.

"Our offense was doing what they needed to do but we just needed to execute the things that were there," said Tarbox.

"In the second half Coach told us that things were going to be there and we just had to play our game. When we got the momentum, we just started to roll. Getting over the hump was the big thing."

Todd Allen then completed the scoring for Windham with a 14-yard run.

 

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