YARMOUTH — In a game that ended 35-0, it wouldn’t appear that a defensive stand in the first quarter would qualify as a big play.

But consider Fryeburg Academy’s win over Yarmouth on Friday night in a Class C South matchup.

With the game scoreless, the Clippers were enjoying what would be their only sustained drive of the game, picking up a few yards at a time to move 29 yards in eight plays to the Fryeburg 18.

But on 4th-and-9, the Raiders’ Liam Harriman wasn’t fooled on a sweep and he took down running back Jack Ricciardi for a two-yard loss.

The stop seemed to spark the Raiders offense, which was held scoreless for the first quarter but erupted for 21 in the second.

Fryeburg’s Calvin Southwick went in from 12 yards out for the first score. The first of five Eddie Thurston PATs made the 7-0 with 9:15 left before the half.

“Defensive stops like that are always huge,” said Fryeburg Coach David Turner.

“This is high school football, a game of momentum. To stop them and get the ball and march down the field was big.”

The win pushes the Raiders to 3-1. Yarmouth drops to 1-3.

“This is a big win for playoff seeds,” said Fryeburg quarterback Oscar Saunders. “One of our goals is to make the playoffs and this will help.”

The Raiders advanced to the semifinals in last year’s playoffs before losing to Cape Elizabeth, 14-0.

Southwick finished with 165 yards and two touchdowns while Saunders threw for two touchdowns and ran for another. As a team the Raiders racked up 243 yards on the ground and 108 yards in the air.

The offensive line of Tucker Buzzell, Jack Campbell, Kempton Maillett, Arnold Jaber and Josh Frye continually opened holes for the running game.

And when the holes weren’t there Southwick and his teammates were able to bounce outside for positive gains.

“The offensive line was phenomenal,” Saunders said.

“They helped us establish the run and then the passing game opened up when things started to get going.”

After a blocked punt by Eli Mahan, it took only four plays for Fryeburg to double its lead to 14-0. Southwick ran it in from the 8. A Saunders pass to Nathan Knapp for 13 yards – in which the wide receiver snagged a high pass in front of the defender – preceded the score.

The final TD of the half was thanks to another huge hole by the line, this time by center Buzzell and Jaber. Saunders went untouched until he shook off a defensive back at the 10. The 33-yard scamper put the Raiders up 21-0 with 43 seconds showing on the clock.

Yarmouth finished with just over 100 yards of offense, all on the ground, led by quarterback Noah Eckersley-Ray’s 42 yards.

“We had a lot of trouble with their players up front, on both sides of the ball,” Clippers Coach Jason Veilleux said. “We couldn’t finish plays or drives.

“We were not ourselves tonight. We were flat and we didn’t have a lot of emotion.”