LISBON

For three quarters, the Mountain Valley defense kept Lisbon bottled up.

But, a high school football game is four quarters, and the Greyhounds found their game with a come-from-behind 20-14 victory on Saturday on Thompson Field.

Quarterback Lucas Francis was hounded by the Falcons (1-1) throughout the contest, with his longest run coming on Lisbon’s opening drive. Francis powered into the end zone on a 13-yard dash for a 6-0 Greyhound edge.

Heading to the fourth quarter, Francis had carried the ball 16 times for just 46 yards. Still, the senior finished with 101 rushing yards overall and scored the final two touchdowns as well to complete Lisbon’s win and perfect 2-0 start.

“Mountain Valley was hitting and bringing four or five guys to the ball every time,” said Lisbon coach Chris Kates. “They have always been a physical team and definitely challenge you up front. There were things we felt that we could do up front that we couldn’t do. That took us out of our element a bit.”

“Lisbon is a well-coached team, and they took away the things we do best,” said Mountain Valley coach Pat Mooney. “We never could set up the outside. We had like 15 delay of games (four), fumbles. We have to do better.”

Tied 6-6 in the third quarter, Francis overthrew a receiver on a fake punt, giving the Falcons the ball at the L-19. Mountain Valley took advantage, with Jasper Turner plowing into the end zone on a 1-yard run for a 12-6 lead.

As the game moved to the fourth, Lisbon fired up. After driving from its own 48-yard line to the Falcons’ 12, Francis ran 10 yards for a first down, followed by a sprint to the end zone. The 2- point conversion attempt failed, leaving the Greyhounds and Falcons tied, 12-12.

Neither team moved the ball, with Mountain Valley punting twice and Lisbon once. After a penalty moved Lisbon back to the Mountain Valley 46-yard line, running back Isaiah Thompson (nine carries, 27 yards) broke off a 13-yard run. Later in the drive, Thompson gained four yards on a fourth down and two run, and three plays later Francis scored again, this time on an 8-yard run. He ran in the 2-point conversion for a 20-12 lead with 1:19 remaining.

“As the game moved on, with the home fans coming out, we fired up and turned the momentum around,” said Francis. “We do a lot of conditioning, and we know that we’re going to grind teams out. We are out here running every day. We would rather not wait until the fourth quarter, but our conditioning drove them down.”

“We work hard all off-season and we are used to the heat, and it paid off today,” added Kates.

Mountain Valley had one more chance, but on first down from its 20-yard line, Kane Strout broke through and sacked quarterback Dylan Desroches for an 8-yard loss.

“That was a big sack, and I was just doing my job, came across and caught him,” said Strout of his sack.

Three incomplete passes followed, turning the ball over to Lisbon on downs.

“They put it to us in the first quarter, we won the second and third quarter, and they won the fourth,” said Mooney. “They don’t stop. They’re a machine, and we had to match up defensively with them in the fourth and we didn’t do it. We need more support from the offense and can’t rely on big plays. Lisbon just leans on you for 48 minutes. Our

Francis capped a game-opening 61-yard drive with his first touchdown, giving Lisbon a 6-0 lead.

Mountain Valley moved on its first possession, advancing to the L-6 before an incomplete pass ended the march on downs.

Falcon Justin Karcher recovered a fumble to put his team back in business at the L-9. But, the drive went backward, and Karcher’s 37- yard field goal try was blocked by Lisbon’s Alan Lavoie.

In the second quarter, Mountain Valley tied the game. Desroches’ pass was hauled in one-handed by Tyler Pelletier, who turned it into a 78-yard catch and run to the end zone.

From there, the defenses controlled the play, with Lisbon looking to slow Mountain Valley’s triple backfield.

“They hit us on a few up the middle where we overpursued it, and we took ourselves out of position,” said Kates. “We pulled our ‘D’ tackles back a bit and told them to pursue, but not overpursue.”

Desroches was 4-of-15 in the air for 114 yards. On the ground, he carried eight times for 62 yards.

Francis completed 8-of-15 passes for 84 yards, with Cam Bourget and Seth Leeman each hauling in two receptions.

On defense, Colin Houle led Lisbon with eight tackles, with Daytona McIver, Francis and Isaac Burnell adding five tackles each. Burnell and Robbie Dick picked up an interception each, while Francis recovered two fumbles.

Parker Salatino and Darin Buono led Mountain Valley with seven tackles apiece.