The end result was precisely what Dave Tremblay, Pembroke Academy’s football coach, wanted. The means to that end, he said, require some tweaking.

PA opened slowly, answered quickly, then dominated on defense to beat visiting John Stark, 12-6, on Saturday, Sept. 12.

The Spartans allowed two long third-down gains – the latter resulting in a touchdown – on the Generals’ opening drive. Surprise, coupled with poor tackling, put the hosts in an early hole, said their mentor.

“We talked about how big the John Stark (running) backs are,” said Tremblay in the PA weight room. “But I think they needed to see for themselves what (the coaching staff) meant.”

Pembroke responded with its running game to knot the score on the ensuing drive. Junior Benjamin Kroll found the end zone from 13 yards out.

Throughout the remainder of the contest, Kroll, classmates Blake Beauchesne and Nathan Segedy, and two seniors, Jose Alicia and Dawson Matter, ran well for PA.

Kroll’s second score, early in the fourth quarter, capped a quick drive set up by Michael Berthiaume’s fumble recovery on the Stark 12-yard line.

Still, the game wasn’t decided until timely runs in the final three minutes from Beauchesne, 8 yards; Kroll, 20 yards; and Segedy, 32 yards.

“We were, I think, the more physical team,” said Tremblay. “That certainly paid off in the fourth quarter, when we broke a couple of big runs to the outside late in the game.”

The coach is confident of his team’s chances to reach the Division III playoffs.

That’s possible, even probable, provided PA plays defense as it did against Stark, minimizes turnovers on offense and avoids late-game letdowns that, Tremblay said, cost the team at least two wins in 2008.

With just seven seniors on Saturday’s Pembroke roster and more than two dozen freshmen joining the program this year, the numbers – just as they were following this early-season contest – are in the coach’s favor.