Hanover -- Little things mean a lot.

For a young football team such as the Lebanon Raiders, the little things -- a missed tackle here, a lack of execution there -- can yield big obstacles. All those items build into a large whole against an opponent as quick as archrival Hanover, which made the Raiders pay for their errors in a 27-0 NHIAA Division IV football win last night at Merriman-Branch Field.

The Marauders' first two touchdowns came as a result of broken tackles. Their last two scores resulted from speed, either of eye, foot or hand. Carl Keating hit the end zone twice for Hanover (1-2), which also handed Lebanon (0-3) its third consecutive shutout defeat and claimed the Principals Cup for the seventh time in eight years.

“I've been telling them all year to believe and that we have a good team,” Hanover coach Mike Ivanoski said. “I think they saw it for the first time. I think that we really became a team today. The fact is it's the confidence we need to go forward.”

It's coming with a large dose of speed.

Keating outraced Lebanon for a 19-yard touchdown run on Hanover's first possession. Cyrus Rothwell-Ferraris extended the lead by returning the second-half kickoff for a 78-yard score. In both cases, Raider tacklers had their hands on the ballcarrier but weren't able to bring him down.

Keating and quarterback Shawn Cavallaro added TD runs in the second half. In both instances, the Marauder runner hit the hole before Lebanon could react to the play while the ball was still in the backfield.

The end numbers weren't gaudy -- no 100-yard rushers, no huge passing tallies. It's the little things that added up for Hanover.

“Defensively, we're playing pretty well,” said Lebanon coach Chris Childs, whose Raiders entered last night off back-to-back 20-0 losses to Kennett and Monadnock. “Between the last couple of weeks, it's fumbles and interceptions that keep hurting us a little bit.”

With graduation losses, disciplinary dismissals and defections, Lebanon has had to rebuild much of its roster from very young players. Hanover is similarly youthful, but speed and athleticism are making a difference.

The Marauders had a 7-0 lead before the halfway point of the first quarter because of both. Four of Hanover's six plays in the 86-yard march went for 10 yards or more, including 32 on a Cavallaro scramble. Keating earned the points by outpacing the Lebanon defense on a simple off-tackle run to the left punctuated by the first of Dan Gorman's three PAT kicks.

To its credit, Lebanon took good care of the football, although it struggled to move it. The Raiders had only two first-half first downs, but a defense headlined by tackle Alexander Morrill, end Chris Henry and middle linebacker Dylan Drew stuffed Hanover through halftime, forcing two punts and a fumble.

“Those are three key guys for us up front,” Childs noted, “and the rest are just kind of learning at it.”

One lesson still to be mastered: wrap up the tackle. Lebanon didn't on Keating's first TD run, nor did it when Rothwell-Ferraris returned the second-half kickoff for a backbreaking score, busting through a set of Raider arms at the Lebanon bench.

The speed angle also applies to the quickness with which sophomore Cavallaro is turning into a quarterback threat similar to graduated four-year starter Sam Carney. Ivanoski hasn't substantially changed the running plays Carney executed then and Cavallaro follows now. But Cavallaro is rapidly learning the art of the throw, as a line of nine completions in 12 attempts and 102 passing yards would indicate.

Timely tosses backstopped Hanover's final two scores. Cavallaro converted a 26-yard down-and-out to Rothwell-Ferraris on a third-and-10 at the Hanover 38 and a 12-yarder of similar nature to Gorman on a third-and-8 from the Lebanon 21 on the Marauders' first drive of the second half. Keating ripped through the Raider line for a 9-yard TD gallop one play later for a 20-0 lead.

Another down-and-out -- a 12-yarder to Gorman on fourth-and-10 deep in Lebanon territory -- set up Cavallaro's 7-yard TD scramble with 7:42 to play. Cavallaro rushed for a team-best 72 yards on the night.

“Shawn's been coming along so well now, not only running the ball but throwing the ball,” Ivanoski said. “Now he's hitting the perfect spots on those third-down plays. He converted I don't know how many of them, but he kept throwing that out perfectly. Shawn is learning every week, and he’s dangerous.”