CAPE ELIZABETH — Between the muffed kickoff and pinning Leavitt back deep, Cape Elizabeth thought it had the Hornets right where it wanted them Friday night.

The Capers had already closed the gap and seized some momentum in the second quarter. When Cape Elizabeth’s special teams went after the Hornets to start the second half, the Capers were hoping to continue that surge.

Leavitt changed that outlook in a hurry. The Hornets escaped the bad field position and subsequently took a double-digit lead. Then Leavitt made a goal-line stand to preserve it in a 26-7 opening-night victory.

“Putting that first score up and making it two scores, we feel pretty good about our defense,” said Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway. “Having a two-score lead, the guys could settle in and play.”

Leavitt outgained the Hornets 200-49 in yards in the second half. The Hornets’ first drive took up most of the third quarter, and Cape only had two other possessions after being stopped late in the third.

That was after the Capers had rebounded from a 14-0 deficit and had the chance to tie it late in the first half.

“We got off to a really quick start at the beginning,” said Hathaway. “They really put us on our heels in the second quarter. They had some long drives and kept the ball out of our hands. They had some big conversions. It was good to come out and establish ourselves after halftime.”

Conor O’Malley was a workhorse in the second half. He finished with 98 yards on 18 carries. He had 65 yards in the second half and 45 of those came on the first drive.

“Our plan was to get the offensive line and get on their backs and keep running it down their throats,” said O’Malley. “We kept getting our traps and getting the guys out and rushed that hole. We got guys in and out and kept guys fresh. We just kept going at them.”

After mishandling the kickoff to start the second half, Leavitt took over on its own 14. Cape could sense a defensive stop, but O’Malley changed that with a 14-yard burst and first down. From there, the Hornets kept moving the ball and working the clock.

O’Malley even converted a fourth-and-one at the 11. Then Billy Bedard took it in from the 2 with 5:54 left in the third for a 20-7 lead.

“We didn’t have great field position,” said Hathaway. “We muffed that punt on the kickoff and had to go 90 yards. We talked at halftime about getting behind the offensive line and running the football and dominating the first series and setting the tone for the second half. I think we did that.”

Cape answered right back with its own lengthy drive and got as close as the 5. Leavitt stopped Jack Drinan on a run and forced three other incompletions to stuff the Capers.

“Mitch Davis batted one down,” said Hathaway. “That was a big play. I think Nate Coombs deflected one. They used some of the plays that had been working. We defended them down there in the red zone.”

Those two drives took up all but two minutes of the third quarter. Cape got the ball back just twice more, one possession came in the final minutes of the game.

“We had that heart,” said O’Malley. “We were able to stop them. It was goal line defense. We had to stop them.”

Nate Rousseau added a plunge from the 1 with 6:25 left in the fourth. That was after Adam Poulin had a scoring run negated by a penalty. He then made a nifty move on a reverse to get the ball at the 1.

Coombs added 67 yards rushing on seven carries and two touchdowns for the Hornets. Poulin ran for 43 yards on seven tries. Quarterback Tyler Chicoine completed six passes for 88 yards.

Cape was led by Drinan with 42 yards on 12 carries. Quarterback Noah Wolfinger threw for 95 yards on eight completions.

Leavitt got a jump on the Capers on the opening kickoff when Zach Rollins recovered a fumble. Leavitt used just two plays to score. Coombs took it in from the 21 with 11:12 left in the first.

After stopping Cape on its first possession, Leavitt produced another drive, covering 70 yards. Chicoine connected with Sam Green and Poulin on a couple of pass plays. He finished off the march with a 21-yard pass to Coombs over the middle for a 14-0 lead with 7:17 left in the first quarter.

Cape started to get its offense moving in the second quarter and answered with a Wolfinger 15-yard pass to Tony Moulton with 1:13 left in the half. Then after a Moulton interception gave the Capers the ball at the Hornet 23, Cape had a chance to tie it but couldn’t score.

“The few mistakes we made, we just got better after that,” said O’Malley. “We just made sure we didn’t make those mistakes again.”

kmills@sunjournal.com