FARMINGTON — There is nothing like bad weather to bring out the good in the Mt. Blue Cougars.

The Cougars are mudders — like thoroughbreds on a muddy race track — and they are proud of their reputation.

Mt. Blue left Skowhegan High School feeling waterlogged Saturday on Caldwell Field, taking its lumps early but ultimately winning the ground war in a 20-14 victory on senior night.

“Poor Makao Thompson is probably going to have to ice every part of his body,” Mt. Blue coach Jim Aylward said. “The kids just played great. Defensively, we made enough plays. It was real hard to throw the ball. I think the weather was on our side. We felt with the weather like this, we were going to match up well.

“We kind of shot ourselves in the foot earlier this year with injuries and academic issues. We never got to full strength. We tried, but that’s the way it is. Only thing you can do is play your best the last football game of the year. We played good football.”

Indeed.

The playoff-bound Indians took one on the chin thanks to the all-weather Cougars (3-5).

The Indians love to throw the ball, but holding on to it was another matter, and Mt. Blue knew this.

Despite the Cougars’ two quick touchdowns in the first quarter to take 14-0 lead, Skowhegan had other other ideas in the second half.

The Indians scored on their first possession in opening minutes of the third quarter thanks to their own ground game. Skowhegan moved all the way to the 3-yard-line where Jakob Murray spilled in from there for a touchdown with 8:36 left. The Indians completed the conversion and cut Mt. Blue’s lead to six points.

But the Cougars came right back at the Indians with a 74-yard touchdown from courtesy of Abram Meader, who sped away from the 26-yard line after breaking free from the pack. The conversion failed, but Mt. Blue’s defense would make the lead hold up rest of the way.

The Indians did put another touchdown on the board when Garrett McSweeney scored on a keeper after moving his Indians from the 42-yard line.

In the first quarter, there was no question the Cougars were running the show despite a driving rain that made the ball feel like a lead weight.

Senior Nate Everett did the honors on the first touchdown, scoring from the 25-yard line after the Cougars took it all the way from the 35. Thompson punched in the conversion.

The second touchdown came from a drive that started from 30-yard line where Thompson carried the ball on four rushes for 25 yards. Throw in a 28-yard run from senior captain Caleb Hall and Mt.Blue was sitting pretty where Liam Sullivan scored from the 5-yard line. The conversion failed but Mt. Blue was up 14-0.

“These conditions were pretty crazy,” Thompson said. “When I almost intercepted that ball, it was like trying to catch a brick flying through the air.

“No one was going to catch that ball tonight. It was ridiculous. Skowhegan is a helluva team. This was our game. We might have ripped up the field a little bit, but no harm done. It was the last game of the season, try to go out with a bang.

“Going out on a win, going out on top is sure going to make some memories for us”.