An explosive running game and a bruising defense were more than enough to lead Cheverus to a 54-8 victory over Yarmouth in its eight-man football debut Saturday afternoon at Boulos Stadium.

Yarmouth couldn’t slow the three-headed attack of Marshall Fowler, Matt Fogg and Rilan Smith, as the Stags picked up 421 yards on the ground, led by Fowler’s 192.

“Eight-man feels the same,” said Fowler, who scored three touchdowns and added four 2-point conversion rushes. “I’m running through the same holes, there’s just three less players on the field.

“It was great to the get the momentum early in the game and we didn’t let off the gas pedal.”

A 27-yard pass from quarterback Richie Tremble to Brett Bogosian set up the first touchdown – a 12-yard strike from Tremble to Bogosian. Fogg added the conversion rush and the Stags were ahead to stay.

Yarmouth, behind the running of Jaxson Dauphinee (10 carries, 35 yards), then marched to the Cheverus 5 before a false start and an incomplete pass stopped the drive on downs.

That set the stage for Fowler to break free for an 85-yard scoring run and a 14-0 advantage.

“That was big,” said Stags Coach Mike Vance. “Anytime you get a stop in the red zone is a boost for your team. That’s what happened there and we got some momentum.”

Cheverus broke it open in the second quarter, as Fogg (four carries, 99 yards) scored on a 72-yard run, Fowler broke free for a 14-yard score and Smith (two carries, 53 yards) ran into the end zone from 48 yards. Fowler punctuated each score with a 2-point conversion, and the score was 38-0 at halftime as the Stags enjoyed a 351-31 advantage in yardage.

With a running clock in the third quarter, Cheverus went up 46-0 on a 36-yard run by Fowler and a Fowler conversion rush.

The Clippers got on the board in the fourth quarter, as bruising junior Spencer LaBrecque (11 carries, 28 carries) scored from the 2 and Michael McGonagle added the 2-point conversion.

A 59-yard run by Joe Osei and Osei’s conversion rush accounted for the final score.

“It’s rejuvenating to be back,” Vance said. “I think it went well. Almost everything we do transfers from 11-man football to eight-man. It’s just blocking and tackling, and obviously we did some good things today.”

“The problem is that Cheverus is still playing at a level of speed that our kids have never seen before,” said Yarmouth Coach Jim Hartman. “It took us a half to catch up, and unfortunately we were way down at halftime. If we’d been at their speed level, it would have been better. We got punched now and understand it, and hopefully we’ll get better.”