RUMFORD — Mountain Valley persevered and pulled together when it had to in a Class C Campbell Conference football game Friday night.

Kyle Farrar rushed for 253 yards, nine carries and scored five touchdowns, including four rushing and one receiving, as the Falcons started strong and proved to be relentless en route to a convincing 39-6 triumph in their home opener against Lake Region at Chet Bulger Field.

It was sweet redemption after last year, when the Falcons lost to Lake Region 20-6.

Mountain Valley (1-1), which had not won since beating Gray-New Gloucester last October, established the line of scrimmage and benefitted from its spread offense. Farrar scored on the first play from scrimmage by running right, cutting left and sprinting 66-yards for a touchdown.

“‘I just followed my pulling guard,” Farrar said, regarding a block by Ian Brennick. ‘”Then I was off on a full run.”

The Falcons’ defense forced two three-and-outs on Lake Region’s first two possessions. On a third down, the elusive Farrar broke through the line untouched and darted 50-yards for a score.

Following a fumble recovery by Jordan Parent, it was Farar (223 yards in first half) scoring on a 9-yard run. Farrar kicked the extra point for a 25-0 lead at halftime.

‘”We are taking small steps,” Mountain Valley coach Steve LaPointe said. “This was a lot better effort than last week (49-12 loss to Wells), these are some fine young men who are a class act and are fun to be around.”

Mountain Valley, which is comprised of underclassmen, limited the Lakers to 123 rushing yards. The Falcons rose up defensively with end Caleb Gauvin, tackles Coyote Freeman and Carrier, Milledge at linebacker and Mike Provencher and Logan Willhoite in the secondary

‘”We had fell behind early at Wells and got down on ourselves,” Farrar said. ‘”We scored early and that was big for the team because we were determined not to be down again.”

Lake Region had chances, but shot itself in the foot with penalties. Quinn Piland returned an interception to the Mountain Valley 3-yard line, but the play was nullified for pass interference. Piland had a TD on a kickoff called back for a push in the back. The Lakers’ Kyle DeSouza and Gunnar Harriman ran for 54 and 52 yards, respectively.

In previous seasons, it was Mountain Valley who had always started the third quarter on fire, and tonight was no exception. Senior quarterback Ian Austin engineered an 80-yard, seven play drive. Austin was four of four on 37-yard drive to Mason on a middle screen, a curl to Brandon Gill and over the middle to Gauvin. Farrar scored on a 9-yard run and a caught a 20-yard TD strike in the fourth quarter.

‘”Our goal tonight was to score early and set the tone,'” Austin said. ‘”Our defense played really well. The passes were open over the middle because no one was covering, curls and throws outside.'”

Piland scored on a 90-yard kickoff return in the fourth quarter. The Falcons will host Spruce Mountain this Friday in a battle of the mountains.