The Mt. Ararat offense gets set to run a play during an eight-man Large School game against Morse on Friday night in Topsham. Cooper Sullivan/The Times Record

TOPSHAM — By the end of the second quarter, the Morse football team finally started to get into an offensive groove. Unfortunately for the Shipbuilders, Mt. Ararat’s offense was about to kick it into a second gear.

Running backs Dash Farrell and Nick Doughty led the Eagles to a 54-14 victory, with a combined 321 rushing yards and six touchdowns.

“I was seeing wide-open holes, I was seeing arm tackles, and I was seeing the end zone,” Farrell said.

The senior, just six months removed from surgery on a growth plate in his leg, hit the ground running in his return to the gridiron. Farrell rushed 168 yards and three touchdowns on eight carries.

Doughty was even more efficient. The junior had only five carries, but gained 153 yards and scored three touchdowns. Two of his touchdowns were on runs of over 50 yards.

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“I couldn’t have done it without the blocking,” Doughty said. “It was easy running.”

Mt. Ararat (1-0) started the scoring at the 5-minute mark of the first quarter, alternating between Doughty and Farrell. After falling down to a quick 16-0 deficit, Morse (0-1) was able to run and gun the ball to the opposing 3-yard line, before Mt. Ararat linebacker Phillip Edelblut forced a fumble out of the hands of Nick Heaberlin. The Eagles recovered, and six plays later, Doughty scored from 65 yards out.

Undeterred, sophomore quarterback Dylan Root orchestrated a 10-play, 82-yard drive and capped it off with a goal line sneak to put Morse on the board with 20 seconds left in the first half.

“I was really proud of the guys,” Morse head coach Jason Darling said. “A lot of people give up getting down three scores early, getting inside the five-yard line and fumbling one, giving one away. There’s a lot of resilience in those kids.”

The positive momentum could not be sustained in the second half halftime break, as Doughty once again broke free and raced for 56 yards on the first play from scrimmage after the break.

Morse couldn’t catch a break, fumbling on the following kickoff return. Mt. Ararat recovered and on the first play of the drive Farrell rushed 46 yards for a score. A three-and-out and weak punt gave the Eagles favorable field position for their next drive, and just for good measure, Farrell ran another one in, giving Mt. Ararat a 46-6 lead with 10:17 left in the third quarter.

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“(Defensively), we started off a little choppy,” said Farrell, who started at linebacker. “It wasn’t that great coming out of the first half. Second half, we knew we had to come out (and) set the tone. Hit ’em right in their faces coming out. We did that.”

Mt. Ararat would not throw a pass in the game, gaining 423 yards on the ground. Junior running back Avery Desjardins punched in one last touchdown in the final seconds of the third quarter.

“It’s good when we can share the wealth a little bit,” Mt. Ararat head coach Frank True said about the combined rushing attack. “It’s hard to key one guy. Of course, our offensive line has got to open up those holes and they did a pretty good job with that tonight.”

Root finished his first varsity start under center completing 10 of his 15 passes for 150 yards, including a 25-yard touchdown to sophomore tight end Colton Aucoin in the fourth quarter. Root added yards on the ground with designed keepers, but was sacked three times, including twice by junior lineman Adrian Reyes.

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