LISBON — The sting of last year’s overtime playoff loss to Oak Hill on a muddy Thompson Field never left Lisbon two-way senior lineman Daniel Bolton.
“I watched (then-Lisbon QB) Lucas Francis — he’s my best friend, almost my brother — I watched him fall on that ball (on the final play of the 6-0 loss) last year and it broke my heart,” Bolton said.
Paving the way for a five-pronged rushing attack led by quarterback Seth Leeman (10 carries, 188 yards, 3 TDs, all in the first half), Bolton and Lisbon’s offensive line dominated Saturday’s Class D South semifinal as the second-seeded Greyhounds avenged last year’s upset loss to the Raiders with a 48-20 win at a considerably less muddy Thompson Field on Saturday.
“It just means a lot to me right now,” said Bolton, a guard/defensive end. “My freshman year, I watched my brother (Kurtis) lose the state game (on the final play to MCI, 20-14). You’ve got to give it all.”
Lisbon (6-3), which was coming off of a bye week it earned by beating Oak Hill, 16-13, in Wales two weeks ago, advances to the regional final at No. 1 Winthrop/Monmouth/Hall-Dale at 7 p.m. next Friday night. Third-seeded Oak Hill ends its season at 5-5.
The Greyhounds out-gained the Raiders 401-149, with all of Lisbon’s yardage coming on the ground and divided mostly among Leeman and running backs Daytona McIver (10 carries, 77 yards), Kyle Bourget (19 carries, 61 yards, TD), Justin Le (13 carries, 41 yards, two TDs) and Nick Blair (three carries, 31 yards, TD). Leeman only attempted one pass, which was incomplete.
“We cleaned some things up through the bye week. We really had two solid weeks of practice. That was the biggest thing for us,” Lisbon coach Chris Kates said. “It was nothing spectacular that we changed our anything like that. We just got after it at practice.”
Gavin Rawstron scored all three of Oak Hill’s touchdowns on runs of six and 11 yards and a 78-yard kick return. The junior quarterback rushed for 84 yards on 15 carries, but many of those opportunities were as a result of Lisbon’s defense forcing him to tuck it and run with excellent coverage and a solid pass rush that made throwing very difficult (2-for-13, 23 yards, one INT).
“The line kept the pressure on the quarterback and the (defensive) backs got onto the receivers and do their job,” said Bolton, who had a sack of Rawstron.
“They did a pretty good job in coverage and with their pass rush,” Oak Hill coach Stacen Doucette said. “They outplayed us today. I don’t think there were a lot of openings. At times, they dropped many guys, and they were doing a lot of things against our passing game that were effective.”
Leeman scored on long runs of 33, 69 and 74 yards, gashing the Raiders on QB counters on which he got to the second level inside before bouncing outside to more daylight.
“It kind of threw them off guard. The holes were wide open,” said Leeman, who had 10 carries for 74 yards in the regular season finale between the teams. “I have to shout out my linemen, shout out my receivers. I just had to hit the hole and I was smelling the end zone.”
“We really went hard to our down blocks, the whole entire line,” Bolton said. “The pulling guards just (went) full speed every time as hard as we can. We kicked out and then looked inside so when Seth goes by us he can keep right on going.”
Leeman’s 33-yard touchdown run on Lisbon’s second possession gave it a lead it would never relinquish with 5:07 left in the first quarter.
The Raiders took advantage of a rare Greyhound mistake when Matt Kronstrand recovered an errant shotgun snap to Leeman and set up the Raiders at Lisbon’s 26. Rawstron followed with runs of 20 and six yards for a touchdown, but Lisbon blocked the extra point to keep the lead, 7-6.
Lisbon put the pressure right back on Oak Hill’s defense thanks to a long McIver kick return that set up the Greyhounds at the Raiders’ 36. Le scored from a yard out five plays later to extend the lead to 13-6.
Following an Oak Hill punt, Leeman struck again on Lisbon’s next play from scrimmage, racing 69 yards to paydirt for a 20-6 lead with 9:05 left in the half.
“It’s nice to have a little power inside with Cam and Justin, and obviously Seth and Daytona are fast on the outside, Riley Quatrano also when he’s in there,” Kates said. “It definitely helps us be a little more unpredictable and we were able to kind of feature that today.”
Lisbon forced three straight Rawstron incomplete passes and a punt to start its next drive at its own 31. Bourget, Le and McIver did most of the ground work on the 12-play drive, which was capped by Bourget’s three-yard TD run for a 27-6 lead.
Rawstron got the Raiders right back into the game when he returned the ensuing kickoff 78 yards untouched to the end zone to make it 27-13. But the Greyhounds responded quickly two plays into their next possession when Leeman faked a handoff to Bourget and scampered 74 yards to give them a 34-13 lead they would take into halftime.
Lisbon started the second half by going 61 yards in 14 plays, the most plays of any of its drives Saturday, with Le scoring from a yard out to make it 41-13.
On Oak Hill’s next series, Le jarred the ball loose from a Raiders ball-carrier and Justin Merrill recovered it near midfield. Eight plays later, Blair, who had all three of his carries on the drive, scored from 12 yards out.
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