LISBON FALLS – The Winthrop High football team held Lisbon to just one first down in the second half Saturday, and that came with less than two minutes remaining.

But the Ramblers made one mistake, and yes, it cost them the game.

Winthrop turned the ball over on its 7-yard line and Lisbon scored three plays later to earn a 14-6 victory in a Western Class C game at Thompson Field.

Lisbon improved to 7-1 and earned the No. 2 seed in the regional playoffs.

Winthrop dropped to 6-2 and will enter the playoffs as the third seed.

Lisbon will be home against No. 7 Jay, and Winthrop will be home against sixth-seeded Dirigo, the defending state champion, in the first round of the playoffs next weekend.

“If we turn that over at the 50, it’s probably a different story,” Winthrop Coach Joel Stoneton said.

“That gave them momentum. Someone was waiting for a mistake and that’s just the way it goes. It was a great football game, hats off to them.”

After giving up three long drives in the first half, Winthrop tightened up on defense and shut down the Greyhounds in the second half.

Lisbon gained 132 yards in the first half but just 67 in the second half, including 29 on its final drive.

But Winthrop was unable to capitalize, and then made that costly mistake in the fourth quarter.

After forcing Lisbon to punt for the fourth time in the half, the Ramblers had the ball at their own 16.

They twice lined up in the wildcat formation, with running back Ryan Conant taking direct snaps.

On second down, Conant took the snap and ran to the line of scrimmage, where he was met by the Lisbon defense.

Conant tried to pitch it back to Derek Pamphrey, but the play was broken up and Mike McNamara of Lisbon managed to recover the fumble at the Winthrop 7.

Two plays later, Lisbon quarterback Luke Caron scored a touchdown, then hit Tobey Harrington for the 2-point conversion to give Lisbon a 14-6 lead with 3:32 remaining in the game.

“That’s what killed us,” Pamphrey said of the play.

“That was just a straight option and it’s (Conant’s) read,” Stoneton said.

“He made the right read and that’s just how it happens sometimes.

“I’m not rattled at all by this; we got knocked from second to third place and we host next week. We were doing that either way.”

Winthrop survived two long Lisbon drives in the first half and tied the game when quarterback Travis Luce threw an 85-yard touchdown pass to Joey Brennan with 1:35 remaining in the half.

The Greyhounds managed to take the lead after they started their first possession at the Winthrop 25 when Cam Armstrong’s punt was knocked down by the wind.

Caron scored six plays later on a 2-yard run to make the score 6-0.

Conant led Winthrop with 111 yards on 16 carries.

Tobey Harrington had 80 yards rushing on 21 carries for Lisbon.