WELLS — Tim Roche gave his unbeaten Wells High football team a simple message at halftime Friday night: Keep playing your game.
“I thought we were kind of down and said, ‘Guys, we’re ahead 20-6,’ ” Roche said.
Wells (5-0), the defending Class D state champion, won its 21st straight game by beating Lisbon, 39-18.
Doing the same for Wells in the second half meant continuing to get big runs from a variety of backs and just enough defensive stops to pull away from the power-running Greyhounds (4-1).
“They were good offensively and defensively, and we just had to make some adjustments and work with it, and that’s Wells football,” said the Warriors’ two-way lineman, Morgan Welch-Thompson. “We’re 100 percent working hard all the time.”
Tyler Bridge opened the scoring with a 90-yard burst, and finished with 194 yards and three scores on 19 carries to lead a Wells ground game that gained 348 yards.
Matt Tufts added 82 yards and two touchdowns, Jonah Potter gained 67 yards and Peyton MacKay ran for a score and a 2-point conversion.
Braeden MacNeill was 3 of 4 passing for 62 yards. Each completion set up a score and the first two came after MacNeill eluded a rush.
“Everyone talks about Tyler Bridge but it’s a lot of different guys making plays,” Roche said. “I thought Braeden MacNeill played his best game of the year.”
Lisbon did offer a challenge, from recovering an onside kick on the opening play to its bruising ground game that featured 205-pound Isaiah Thompson (15 carries, 50 yards) and 215-pound quarterback Lucas Francis (25-82) running behind 300-pound Hunter Job, who lined up as an up back just behind the guard-tackle hole.
That strategy paid dividends on a 91-yard march to close the second quarter and cut Wells’ lead to 20-6. Five offensive holding penalties also slowed the Warriors.
But the Warriors came out in the third quarter with a defensive stop and a 20-yard Bridge touchdown run, set up by a third-and-9 MacNeill completion.
Lisbon responded with another time-consuming drive only to have Wells answer in quick fashion with a 38-yard run by Potter starting a 70-yard drive finished by Tufts from the 12.
“You can’t cheat on certain plays and once they hit a couple of big plays on us, you try to play a little outside of the defense and that’s when things start to break down against a Wing-T team,” said Lisbon Coach Chris Kates.
A 10-yard run by Bridge and Francis’ 16-yard TD to Robbie Dick with 51 seconds to play finished the scoring.
Wells took the early momentum when Bridge bounced an off-tackle run outside and sprinted 90 yards for a score on the Warriors’ second offensive play.
Wells converted a 14-play, 51-yard drive despite two holding calls, the first negating a Bridge 19-yard score. MacKay eventually got the touchdown on a 5-yard sweep.
On Wells’ third drive, Tufts busted a dive play 53 yards for a score. MacKay scooted in with the 2-point conversion for a 20-0 lead with 11:28 remaining in the half.
Steve Craig can be reached at 791-6413 or:
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