Lebanon Sept 19th -- Adrenaline: the alternative fuel for the 21st century.

Hanover High senior running back Christian Harris need not worry about getting from point A to point B as long as he operates on the same power cell that produced a 23-carry, 225-yard, two-touchdown performance in the Marauders' 27-13 football win over improving Lebanon last night at Henry Emerton Memorial Field.

Yep, that's the same engine that also made at least two impressive chase-down tackles of Raider ballcarriers, the one that blew up several Lebanon running plays, even delivered Hanover's only punt of the evening.

The one that kept the Principals' Cup -- awarded to the winner of the annual Lebanon-Hanover gridiron tilt -- in Marauder hands for the fifth straight year. The motor that couldn't stop revving even when Hanover coach Mike Ivanoski pulled him out for the occasional second-half breather.

“I don't want to stop,” Harris gushed. “This has always been a big game, from when I was in fifth grade all the way to now. We've had big games against other schools, but this just gets you amped.”

Adrenaline: It can't be drilled, refined, pumped or taxed. Just pour it and go.

The Marauders (2-1) dress fewer than 30 players for every game, so what they have has to do a lot. After Hanover quarterback Sam Carney staked the visitors to a 14-7 halftime lead with a pair of scoring runs, Ivanoski put the second half in the hands of Harris, who produced three tackle-breaking gallops of 32 yards or longer, two of which resulted in touchdowns and provided the eventual margin of victory.

“He just stepped up, man,” Ivanoski said. “I can't say enough about his leadership and his hard work.”

It was required against the Raiders (1-2), who for the second straight week proved capable of forcing turnovers, turning them into points and holding the ball for sustained stretches of time. Lebanon's downfall: three drives that stalled on downs within the Hanover red zone, all ending without a score.

After the Raiders' Garrett Finn snuck in from the Hanover 1-yard line -- capitalizing on a Carney fumble -- for a touchdown late in the first quarter, the Marauders reeled off four straight scores. Carney brought Hanover to within a point with his own 1-yard scoring sneak in the second period and added another on a 10-yard jitterbug with 18.1 seconds left in the first half. Harris' ensuing conversion run only served as the appetizer for the second-half buffet.

On his first touch of the third period, Harris took a Carney handoff over left tackle, cut back to the middle of the field, broke two tackles and dashed 53 yards for a 21-7 lead. He added a 32-yard TD run on the Marauders' next possession for a 27-7 advantage that looked untouchable.

“He's quick,” Lebanon coach Chris Childs said. “His speed … we had a hard time dealing with it. On top of that, I don't know how many tackles he broke today. He just keeps his legs moving. He doesn't stop.”

The Raiders' attack, unfortunately, did.

Riding the shoulders of workhorse sophomore back Cody Patch (29 carries, 118 yards), Lebanon answered Harris' first score with a nine-play march to the Hanover 15, where the Marauders forced three Finn incompletions to take the ball on downs. Still, the Raiders matched Harris' second TD with a 3-yard Patch scoring burst late in the third quarter to squeeze within two scores.

Looking for the clincher with Harris taking a rare rest on the sidelines, Hanover fullback Kenneth Jones coughed the football into the Raider end zone, which Patch scooped on one hop and returned to Lebanon 40. Finn again marched Lebanon deep, the Marauder 9, but Hanover forced two more incompletions to frustrate Childs again.

“The second half was what really hurt the most,” Childs said. “We punch one in to cut the lead, we get the ball back, we march down and we come up short. That hurts a lot.”

Harris didn't limit his adrenaline rush to simply rushing the football.

The former quarterback made a fine juggling catch on a fourth-down Carney throw to set up the Marauder signal caller's second-quarter TD. When Finn hit Jeremy Prasch for a 57-yard catch-and-run in the third quarter, it was Harris who raced half the field to make the score-saving tackle.

“They had a little more size than we did, and they may have come out a little more amped up than we did,” Harris surmised. “But we just kept at it. We were beat down, but we never broke. We bent, but we never broke.”

And never ran out of gas.

Extra Points: Carney added 58 yards on 13 rushes for Hanover, which amassed 337 rushing yards on 50 attempts. … Finn's long bomb to Prasch to the fourth quarter was his only completion in 15 passing attempts. … Patch completed Lebanon's only other toss, taking a sideline lateral from Finn and hitting John Williams for a 34-yard gain shortly after halftime. … Raider defensive back Tyler King had a pair of impressive pass breakups in the first half, including one leaping, backpedaling slap to prevent a Hanover completion deep in Lebanon territory in the second quarter. … The Marauders entertain Kennett on Friday, while the Raiders visit defending state champion Laconia.