By Justin Pelletier,Staff Writer

WINTHROP – The Old Orchard Beach Seagulls knew exactly what and who the Winthrop Ramblers were going to run at them.

They just couldn’t stop him.

Despite seven rushes for a collective negative-21 yards, running back Tavis Hasenfus finished with 20 carries for 229 yards on the ground, two touchdowns and another 44 yards receiving to lead the Ramblers to a 34-8 victory over the Seagulls in the teams’ first Campbell Conference football game of the season Friday night.

“You can tell (Hasenfus) improved his strength over the summer,” said Old Orchard Beach coach Dean Plante. “We thought we had him a few times when he broke right through.”

The bulk of Hasenfus’ yards came in the first half. At the break, the rugged runner had 177 yards. In the second half, his primary job shifted from running to being a decoy.

“He really opened things up for us,” said Winthrop coach Joel Stoneton. “Last week we knew (Old Orchard Beach) had scouted us against Stearns, and we ran everything to the motion side. Tonight, they bumped with him to that side, and we ran a lot against the motion.”

In the second half, Hasenfus only touched the ball six times, and lost yards three times. In his final two carries of the night, though, he had runs of 32 and 30 yards.

“I kind of set a goal for myself at the beginning of the season where I thought I might want to be for an average,” said Hasenfus, “but really that’s just personal and it doesn’t mean anything. The important thing is that we win the games.”

Russ Schmelzer also had a solid game for Winthrop, with 81 yards on the ground.

“Russ does a great job hitting the hole, and then he can take that one step and be gone,” said Stoneton.

Winthrop starting quarterback Kyle Plossay only learned Wednesday that he would start Friday and, according to Stoneton, was “really nervous” prior to game time.

“He stepped it up tonight,” said Stoneton. “He was the man.”

Plossay finished 7-for-16 for 111 yards and a touchdown, which came on the fourth play of the game, a 30-yard strike to Corey Gillespie.

The Seagulls knotted the score at 8-8 three series later on a Dustin Bouchard 36-yard scamper.

“It looked like it was going to be a big-play game,” said Stoneton.

“We were able to move the ball well all night,” said Plante. “We just couldn’t get it into the end zone.”

Old Orchard finished with 296 yards of total offense, but sputtered twice inside the red zone, including a dropped pass in the end zone and an interception.

Hasenfus trotted 76 yards for his first touchdown of the night early in the second quarter, and notched his second score 10 minutes later on a 3-yard dive.

Plossay scored a rushing touchdown of his own on a broken play in the fourth quarter, and Jake Steele finished the scoring with both teams’ junior varsity squads on the field late in the game.