Souhegan High's Mike Maroun blocked a pair of punts and added a 50-yard interception return for a touchdown in the playoff win over Holls Brookline. "Give me some open space, and I've got wheels," the senior said.

AMHERST – Explosive. Or in this case explosive cubed.

Offense, defense, special teams, Souhegan High School simply erupted all over Hollis Brookline in Friday night’s Division 2 quarterfinal, rolling to a 63-34 victory.

“It felt like a college game with how long it was,” said Sabers coach Robin Bowkett of the near three-hour affair. “Credit to HB, those kids fought to the end.”

The Sabers scored by land, by sea, by air and every way in between, it seemed, with three interception return TDs and a pair of Mike Maroun blocked punts – one that went for a safety and the other that Tony Garrant scooped up for a touchdown.

“You can’t spot them 30 points like that. That was the ballgame,” said HB coach Chris Lones.

A night that began with an old-school Cavaliers’ touchdown drive – four runs, three passes culminating with a Drew Gryniewicz 1-yard TD pass to Blake Bergerson – seemed innocent enough.

Enter the one-man wrecking crew Maroun, a 230-pound converted lineman-turned-fullback/havoc wreaker.

His first blocked punt put Souhegan on the board, trailing 7-2. The second gave the Sabers an 8-7 lead that they would never, ever relinquish.

“I don’t think Hollis really thought I’d be coming off the edge, but we made an adjustment this week and it really worked. I’m really happy about that,” said Maroun. “They came down and scored really quick which is a confidence booster for them, but our defense made three great plays down in that end, and I think that first blocked punt was definitely a momentum surge. We needed that.”

From there, it was about big plays and senior halfback Riley Lawhorn delivered a season-full of them in his 16-carry, 223-yard, two-touchdown night.

“That guy’s a beast,” said Maroun, who paved the way for many of those Lawhorn yards with some crushing blocks. “It’s crazy seeing how much he’s developed over the last four years as a varsity player, and I didn’t really expect anything less than that from him.”

Quarterback Austin Jain and the passing game struggled at times, but the senior still clicked on 11 of 25 for 130 yards with a pair of TD tosses to Luke Manning and a third to Connor Holland.

Defensively, the Souhegan gameplan was focused on stopping Cavalier big-play runner Marc-Andre Thermitus, who entered Friday night’s action with 1,002 yards and 10 TDs in just five games.

Who could have predicted they’d come up with interception returns from Colby Reese (38 yards), Maroun (50) and defensive end Alex Karpawich (12) along the way?

“That was goal No. 1 for the defense, shut down their running game. He’s awesome, he ran hard all night,” said Bowkett. “Scoring four non-offensive touchdowns is just awesome. Our guys were resilient to the end.”

Karpawich, Jaxon Weisberg and Will Boyle took up residence in the HB backfield as Souhegan posted eight sacks on the night. Defensive tackle Dexter Healey was a tower of strength in the bid to shut down the Cavaliers’ interior game.

Thermitus oozed toughness, with Sabers hanging all over him in a 22-rush, 104-yard effort.

Bergerson was a man among boys, pulling in nine catches for 140 yards, hauling in three of Gryniewicz’ five TD passes on the night. Isaiah Velez and Jack Delaney scored the others.

“He had a great game and a great year, considering the battle we had trying to find a QB until Drew settled in,” said Lones.

Gryniewicz, a senior playing his only season of high school ball, finished 17 of 32 for 260 yards.

Souhegan, now 6-0, moves on to the state semifinals and will face Timberlane, which has gone 3-3 and picked up a quarterfinal win without playing when Saint Thomas could not answer the call due to virus issues and conceded the playoff game this week.

The Sabers took the regular season meeting with the Owls, 41-8.

“I think we’re looking good,” said Maroun. “We’ve been underdogs, all these guys, for our entire high school career. I’m really confident in our guys. We’ve got a bunch of tough dudes, really devoted kids, and we want to bring home a ring, take home a championship for Souhegan and the town of Amherst.”