Both teams showed something different in Saturday’s Class D South semifinal, but the Greyhounds’ surprise was far more successful in a 42-9 victory at Thompson Field.

Lisbon senior quarterback Tyler Halls and sophomore running back Lucas Francis traded roles to start the second half Saturday. Francis began taking snaps, and on the first play of the third quarter he handed off to Halls on a jet sweep.

The real surprise came when Francis connected on pass to Halls for 16 yards later in the drive, which ended with Francis rumbling in from six yards out to make it a 24-3 lead for the No. 2 Greyhounds (7-1).

“Whenever we come to this game, we know there’s going be things we’ve never seen,” Francis said. “We’ve practiced it the past few weeks. We were just waiting for the right time to bust it out, really.”

The Greyhounds quickly got the ball back after the No. 3 Raiders (6-3) fumbled the ensuing kickoff. Three plays later, Francis lofted a pass down the right sideline and Halls ran under it before taking it the rest of the way for a 39-yard touchdown.

“I thought it was overthrown at first,” Halls said. “I thought the DB was right on me, but I just got my hands out there and pulled it in. It was a great pass.”

“I’ve been throwing that pass to him the past three weeks,” Francis said.

While the new-look Lisbon offense was a surprise to most everybody at the game, it wasn’t to the Oak Hill coaching staff, who had prepared for the possibility of it. Francis did admit that he had taken some snaps at quarterback in a JV game earlier in the season.

“We actually practiced that this week,” Oak Hill coach Stacen Doucette said. “We just didn’t execute it. They executed it perfectly, and we struggled.”

The Greyhounds struggled at the start of the game. Neither team found much footing on their respective opening drives, with Lisbon going three-and-out on the second possession of the game. The Raiders then embarked on an 18-play drive that took them into the second quarter, with Steve Gilbert finishing off the drive with a 21-yard field goal.

The Greyhounds countered with a score off their own, an 11-yard touchdown pass from Halls to Francis. They then completely seized momentum three plays into Oak Hill’s ensuing drive when Tanton Mattson intercepted a Matt Strout pass.

“I think they had control the whole first part of that game,” Lisbon coach Dick Mynahan said. “I thought the defense coming out like that and making that stop, we were happy with that.”

Halls ended Lisbon’s drive — and the half — with a 1-yard touchdown run on a QB sneak. He ran in the two-point conversion on each of Lisbon’s first three scores.

The Greyhounds got the ball back to start the second half, and they saw a chance to put away a team that they couldn’t beat in four previous playoff tries.

“We know we were getting the ball back, and we wanted to put it away early,” Francis said.

He helped Lisbon do just that by trading off carries with Halls out of the new formation, either handing off to Halls on a jet sweep from the receiver position or keeping it himself between the tackles. Not to mention the occasional pass.

Down 30-3, the Raiders showed a wrinkle of their own. Gilbert took a direct snap and ran it off right tackle, found a small hole and took it 61 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter.

But Lisbon responded, with Francis running in from a yard out from a more-normal running back position. He finished his time at QB earlier in the drive by hitting Tyrese Joseph for a 21-yard pass on third-and-11.

The Greyhounds capped off the scoring in the fourth quarter with a 28-yard touchdown run by Jared Glover.

“They’re a very good football team,” Doucette said. “And they executed in the second half.”

Lisbon advances to next weekend’s Class D South regional final, where the Greyhounds will rematch with top-seeded and undefeated Winthrop/Monmouth, which handed them their lone loss of the season in week one.

“Mentally, we’re in a pretty good state after beating Oak Hill. But we know that Winthrop’s got a great team,” Mynahan said. “It’s going to be a good game, we just hope that we can compete a little bit better this than we did last time. And we’ve been working toward that every practice.”

wkramlich@sunjournal.com