By Greg Gulas

sports@vindy.com

LISBON

Lisbon running back Jason Thompson wasn’t impressed with his first-half play, despite rushing for a game-high 98 yards and the Blue Devils’ only touchdown.

But add the play of both Colin Sweeney and Josh Liberati to Thompson’s second-half effort and one couldn’t help but be impressed with the end result.

Thompson rushed for 192 yards and three touchdowns, Sweeney returned the opening kickoff of the second half for a touchdown while Liberati had 166 total yards as the Blue Devils defeated the Clippers, 41-14 in an Inter Tri-County, Tier One game Friday night at War Memorial Stadium.

Lisbon (6-1, 3-1) fell behind 14-0 just 13 minutes into the game, but then reeled off 41 unanswered points to improve to 3-1 at home this season.

“Our offensive line is the best that any player could ask for and they did the job once again tonight. They stayed on their blocks, gave [quarterback] Josh Liberati plenty of time and opened holes all night for the entire backfield,” Thompson said. “At halftime, coach [Jim] Tsilimos challenged us and that gave us a major morale boost.”

The Clippers (4-3, 2-2) started quickly when Mitch Davidson connected with Dylan Davin twice, first on a 2-yard touchdown at 3:44 of the opening quarter and then on a 34-yard scoring pass just 92 seconds into the second.

Thompson’s first touchdown midway through the frame cut the Clippers’ lead to 14-7 at the intermission.

“We left some points out there in the first half and you cannot do that against a good offensive team like Columbiana," Tsilimos said. "We made a few adjustments at halftime, told our offense that they had to score and while we didn’t take advantage of our opportunities in the first half, we did in the second half.

“Special teams also paid off for us well.”

Sweeney returned the second-half kickoff 68 yards for a touchdown to cut the Columbiana lead to 14-13 after a missed extra point proved to be the spark needed to ignite the Blue Devils.

“I hit the hole, just spun off Jaret Everett and was able to take it to the house,” Sweeney said. “It’s always nice to put points on the board, but just as nice when you stop a team with a good defensive stand.”

When Liberati found Josh Craig with a 3-yard toss at 8:41 of the third period, the Blue Devils took the lead for good at 19-14, adding two more scores by Thompson for a 33-14 margin with 12 minutes remaining.

“Our game plan tonight was the same that it has been the first six weeks of the season — just come out and play," Liberati said. "At halftime, coach Tsilimos said we control our destiny and to start the second half with a kickoff return for a touchdown helped set the tempo for us the remainder of the way."

A Blue Devils safety at 7:21 of the final period made it 35-14. Frankie Morrell’s 1-yard run with a little over two minutes remaining finished the scoring.

“We could not have played a worse half than the second half tonight," Columbiana coach Bob Spaite said. "We felt as if we had to score 30 or 40 points tonight in order to win and while our offense was executing and the defense couldn’t have played any better in the first half, turnovers really hurt us in the second half."

Columbiana committed six turnovers. Lisbon turned the ball over twice.