WALES — Oak Hill ran three plays inside the red zone in the first half of Saturday’s Western Class D football game against Old Orchard Beach, while the Seagulls ran eight ”“ including five on their second drive. Those three plays by the Raiders netted 17 points, while OOB didn’t score on any one of them, or any offensive play for that matter, as Oak Hill came away with a 32-2 victory.

“It’s the exact same recipe we used last week,” Old Orchard Beach head coach Dean Plante said, noting all of his team’s wasted chances in a 42-7 loss to Lisbon. “We moved the ball. We fumbled twice inside the 5. We got stalled on the 10. And we spotted them points.”

The Raiders (4-1), the defending Class D state champions, had no trouble moving the ball from the start, as they had senior running back Kyle Flaherty back from injury.

Flaherty carried the ball on each of the game’s first four plays, gaining 46 yards and setting up Dalton Therrien’s 14-yard touchdown run on a quarterback keeper.

OOB (3-2) ran just two plays ”“ including a 17-yard scamper by Andrew Graves ”“ before a bad snap was recovered by the Oak Hill defense. After two runs by Alex Mace, Flaherty scored from 26 yards out to put the Raiders up 14-0 less than four minutes in.

“We knew we were going to see some double-wing; it was double-wing kind of weather,” said Plante. “That’s all they ran. That was it, no spread formations.”

“Kyle makes a difference. Kyle is a really good running back. He pretty much has missed up until today,” said Oak Hill head coach Stacen Doucette. “He brings a dimension between the tackles that we haven’t had. He has a dimension where he can run and read his blocking, and he’s always gaining yards as he runs.”

Flaherty finished the day with a game-high 168 yards on 13 carries.

The Seagulls had their first sniff of the end zone on their second drive of the game, as Graves and quarterback Bryan Roberts traded runs back and forth, and Roberts mixed in two complete passes, to bring OOB down to the 5-yard line. But Graves was tackled for a loss on 3rd-and-5 and Roberts’ pass to Erik Hogan in the end zone fell incomplete as OOB turned the ball over on downs.

After the Raiders sandwiched a touchdown and a field goal around an OOB three-and-out, the Seagulls went on another long drive. But a completed pass to Evan Christensen on fourth down that would have gained enough yards for a first down was fumbled at the Oak Hill 3-yard line.

The Seagulls scored their only points of the game as Oak Hill failed to move out of the shadow of its own end zone, and a punt snap intended for Levi Buteau instead went through the back of the end zone for a safety.

OOB drove again deep inside Oak Hill territory with time winding down in the first half, but Roberts fumbled at the 5 ”“ and got injured in the process ”“ to put the stamp on another lost drive.

“You can’t put the ball on the ground twice inside the 5 and expect to hang with Oak Hill,” said Plante.

“Defensively, we bend, don’t break. And the philosophy worked today,” said Doucette.

Any hope of an OOB comeback in the second half ended on the opening kickoff, as the Seagulls fumbled the ball away again, and Oak Hill scored on a 39-yard pass from Therrien to Mace on the next play.

OOB third-string quarterback Dylan Creswell ”“ who came in with both Roberts and backup Hunter Bouthot injured ”“ engineered a 10-play drive on the Seagulls’ first drive of the second half, but it ended with a punt at the Oak Hill 47-yard line.

“Obviously when you take your best player off the field anytime it’s frustrating,” Plante said in regards to losing Roberts, who eventually got back onto the field. “Dylan got reps (Friday), and did admirable. You ask for positives, that’s a positive. I think we have our quarterback of the future as a sophomore.”

Creswell ran seven times for 10 yards ”“ he had 23 yards gained before a 3-yard loss, a seven-yard sack and another 3-yard loss on a bad snap ”“ and was intercepted when a tipped pass fell into the arms of Oak Hill lineman Garrett Gile.

The Seagulls, who started the season 3-0, now have dropped two-straight to two of the top three teams in Western Class D. They next face undefeated Dirigo ”“ the other team in the top three ”“ at home on Friday.

“We’ll bounce back. We haven’t showed we can play on the level of Lisbon and Oak Hill yet. Maybe we can’t, maybe we can. I think we can ”“ I’m the eternal optimist,” said Plante. “We’ll be in the playoffs, and we’ll have our shot.”

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