OLD ORCHARD BEACH — The worst loss of the season for the Old Orchard Beach football team came right in the middle of its seven-game regular season schedule, as the Seagulls were routed by Lisbon, 42-7.

The defeat was the first of three straight for the Seagulls ”“ their only three losses of the season ”“ before they ended the regular season with a comfortable win over Boothbay.

Despite the score, however, OOB head coach Dean Plante said he didn’t think his team was that outmatched against the Greyhounds, who are the top-seeded team in the Western Class D playoffs.

“The score was certainly lopsided at the end. I’m not sure it was a clear indication of the nature of the game,” said Plante. “The bottom line is, they hit some big plays on us.”

The Greyhounds had four touchdowns of 20 yards or more, including on passes of 80 and 63 yards. It’s a problem that showed up again for the No. 4 Seagulls’ defense last week in a 28-22 victory over Winthrop/Monmouth and something Plante said he knows his team has to shore up.

“We’ve had a propensity to give up big plays through the air. We need to fix that,” said Plante. “We’re working on a game plan to do that. Kind of eliminate those big plays, make people have long drives against us, make them sustain it. That’s our focus defensively.”

It won’t be easy for the Seagulls, as Lisbon quarterback Kyle Bourget has a dangerous target at wide receiver in Tyler Halls, who hauled in the 80-yard pass for a score in the regular season matchup.

But if OOB keys in too much on Lisbon’s passing game, the Seagulls could get run over by 6-foot, 225-pound tailback Noah Francis and 6-foot, 230-pound fullback Joe Philbrick

“They’re balanced, but they have two really good, big, physical backs,” Plante said of the Lisbon offense. “They’re going to look to pound it, grind it out, and then to look to hit big plays.”

Plante can look to last week as a sign of progress as Winthrop/Monmouth hit two big pass plays in the first half, but wasn”˜t able to continue that trend after halftime.

“We work on fundamentals, get back to basics. But we also scheme differently,” Plante said of what his team is working on this week. “We’ll game plan for that, try to take some of that stuff away.”

While the OOB defense will look to prevent Lisbon from putting 42 points up on the scoreboard again, the Seagulls offense should be able to put up more than seven.

OOB was able to move the ball during that week four game, but saw its drives stall as the offense approached the red zone. Plante said that playing with such a large deficit for much of the game also forced his offense to throw the ball more than he would have liked.

Plante said creating some balance on offense early, and being able to sustain that balance will be a big key. That balance means being productive in both the run and pass game, as well as getting production on the ground from people other than dual-threat quarterback Bryan Roberts.

“We’ll look to be a little more balanced, hope to get some good carries out of a few other kids besides Bryan,” said Plante.

Plante said he would like to get touches for his whole stable of backs, including Hunter Bouthot, Andrew Graves, Dylan Creswell and Erik Hogan.

While running the ball effectively will help keep the Lisbon offense on the sidelines, Plante said he knows his team will probably have to throw the ball as well to keep pace with the Greyhounds. Plante said he has no problem seeing Roberts drop back and pass when the situation calls for it.

“I think our pass game is a little bit better than people think. We just haven’t had to rely on it in some of the games we’ve won,” said Plante. “They’re not going to be able to take everything away. You can’t put nine in the box to stop Bryan and defend the pass adequately. So pick your poison.”

Roberts has all his backfield mates in his arsenal to throw to, as well as towering receiver Joe Anderson, who was able to toy with Winthrop/Monmouth defenders last week.

OOB goes into Saturday afternoon’s game with a little momentum after routing Boothbay and winning an emotional battle over Winthrop/Monmouth. The Greyhounds, meanwhile, are more than a week removed from a regular season-ending loss to Oak Hill ”“ their only defeat of the season ”“ and haven’t played since then. Lisbon was supposed to play Telstar in the quarterfinals last week, but the Rebels ”“ whose only win of the season was because Traip had to forfeit games due to an ineligible player ”“ forfeited the playoff game, giving the Greyhounds a bye week. Plante said he doesn’t think all that time off will do anything to slow down the Greyhounds.

“(Lisbon head coach Dick) Mynahan and (assistant coach Randy) Ridley are two of the best. They’ll be ready, and we know they’re rested with the week off,” said Plante. “We’ll get the full complement of what Lisbon has to offer.”

The Seagulls will be the underdogs going into the game, but Plante said that doesn’t faze him or his team.

“I’ve said it from day one, I’m extremely confident every game we go into. I’m an optimistic coach all the time. So we don’t go in preparing to lose, we go in preparing to win, expecting to win, and see what happens,” said Plante. “It won’t be a lack of preparation or effort of anyone on my staff or the players’ part, so we’ll be ready.”

— Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or sports@journaltribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.