Leavitt’s Caleb Bowen runs the ball past Belfast’s defense during a blowout game in Leavitt on Friday night.
TURNER — The Leavitt offense was running on all cylinders Friday night, with the horsepower of a sports car and the efficiency of a hybrid.
The Hornets’ first six plays all went for touchdowns and they never faced a fourth down in downing Belfast 73-0 in an inter-regional Class C tilt at Libby Field.
“We played awesome today,” Leavitt senior quarterback Tim Albert said. “I’m so proud of everyone right now. The line did awesome, the backs did amazing, too, and the defense did unbelievable.”
Albert was on point from the start. His first pass went to Caleb Bowen for an 80-yard touchdown. The next one was a 90-yard scoring catch-and-run to Camden Jordan. Bowen caught another touchdown pass from Albert, and Oren Shaw joined the party on Albert’s fourth throw. The Hornets led 31-0 just 8:44 into the game.
“Timmy came out throwing the ball well, and the line gave him good protection, and the guys caught the ball,” Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway said. “You know what, when you have that much time, when the O-line gives you that much time — I mean, a couple of those receivers, he was on his second or third look. When Timmy’s locked in, he really can throw it. He’s got a good arm and he’s really, really smart. Some of the throws he made today, he just knew before the snap where to put the ball, and that makes a lot of difference.”
Bradley Moreau and Jordan both ran for touchdowns on the Hornets’ (2-0) next two plays to make it 39-0 just before the end of the first quarter.
The Lions (0-2) finally were able to stop a Leavitt offensive play short of the goal line on the Hornets’ first drive of the second quarter, but three runs by three different players and an Albert 18-yard pass to Cole Morin led to another score.
Albert ended his day 5 of 5 for 242 yards and five touchdowns.
“We got some fast receivers and I trust them,” Albert said. “Just throw it and let them make the plays.”
The Leavitt defensive effort was just as eye-popping. Belfast didn’t gain a first down until the second quarter, and the Lions were held to just 3 yards rushing in the first half. Belfast sophomore quarterback Dylan Abbott was 7 of 21 for 64 yards, but he was intercepted twice by Bryce Hudson.
“I thought one thing that we did better this week that we really didn’t do in the preseason and didn’t do last week was give up the big play,” Hathaway said.
The Lions’ longest play went for 18 yards, and no play in the first quarter went for more than 3.
The Hornets capped off their scoring with with a second-quarter run by Mark Herman, a third-quarter scoring run by Wyatt Hathaway, and fourth-quarter touchdowns passing (Hathaway to Keegan Melanson) and rushing (Matt Wallingford). Hathaway completed both his passes, making the Hornets a perfect 7 for 7 through the air. They finished the game with 564 yards of offense (299 rushing, 265 passing).
“If you got a good O-line you can be good at anything, and we’re pretty good up front,” Mike Hathaway said. “And we got some backs. We got a lot of depth in the offensive backfield. There’s a lot of different guys that can do a lot of different things. So we’ll keep trying to use those guys in different ways all we can, and that makes us tough to prepare for.”
Despite the lopsided score and offensive outburst, Albert said there isn’t much time to dwell on Friday night’s success.
“We can’t let it get to our head,” he said. “On Monday we got to check in and get ready for Gardiner.”
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
Leavitt’s Caleb Bowen runs the ball down the field while being chased by Belfast’s Blayze Newman during a lopsided blowout in Turner on Friday night.
Leavitt’s Bryce Hudson prepares to power past Belfast’s Blayze Newman during an epic blowout Friday night in Turner. Belfast’s Jacob Waterman comes in from the left to assist.
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