Lebanon — The hardest hit Chris Childs has witnessed all autumn didn’t involve his Lebanon High football players, but an angry bull at his family’s farm near the Enfield town line. The small spread is affectionately nicknamed Crazy Acres.

The beefy bovine, 2 years old and roughly 2,000 pounds, got rough with a pickup truck parked in his pasture and charged, resulting in a hellacious collision and more than a fender bender’s worth of damage.

“No more bull,” Childs’ wife, Marilou, explained of the aftermath. “I’m getting a rib roast soon.”

That’s not to say, however, that the Raiders and their 11th-year coach haven’t taken their lumps this season. Lebanon absorbed more of them on Friday night during a 43-8 loss at the hands of visiting Plymouth that dropped Lebanon to 1-6.

Childs’ team, which gained 92 yards and allowed 277 during a contest that featured a running clock for much of the second half, closes its campaign at Bow next week.

“They’re still playing with effort, and I’m proud of them for that,” the coach said of his troops. “But I’ve never had a group like this that takes one step forward and then goes back two. We’re really good for stretches, and then comes a mental lapse.

“Until we clean those up, we’re not going to get results we like.”

Lebanon lost a fumble deep in its end, had a punt blocked and returned for a touchdown and suffered an interception return for a score. There also was a snap that soared over the punter’s head, resulting in a 32-yard loss.

The night was perhaps best encapsulated when, from the Bobcats’ 33-yard line with seconds remaining in the first half, a Raiders’ shotgun snap was bobbled by quarterback Ryan Preston, who fell down as he tried to roll out and throw.

“We’re playing a lot of young kids and asking a lot of them,” Childs said. “They’re giving us everything they have, but when you don’t have a lot of depth, this is what happens.”

Lebanon, 6-4 a year ago, has been decimated by injuries. The Raiders dressed 26 players on Friday, with the walking wounded prominent on their sideline. Quarterback Jon Willeman broke a vertebrae in his neck against Hanover and wears a hard plastic collar that extends roughly from his collarbone in the front to his hairline in the back.

Lineman Noah Tyler, also in street clothes, walked tentatively among his teammates while wearing ear plugs and sunglasses. The sophomore suffered a concussion against Laconia and endured three seizures shortly thereafter. He said they’ve continued sporadically since and that he’s able to attend only two class periods per day.

Senior running back and linebacker Matt Eylander, who gained 41 yards in 21 carries on Friday, has battled a hamstring injury and bruises too numerous to count. Two other players are out with torn knee ligaments and a busted collarbone. There’s a question of whether the Raiders will have more than one or two substitutes for their remaining junior varsity games.

“I don’t know how to explain it, but we’ve had one injury after another this year,” Childs said. “It’s meant we’ve played more young kids and, hopefully, that experience will benefit us next year.”

There’s hope on the horizon, but not right away. Lebanon’s eighth-grade team has lost only once this fall and features 19 players. The seventh-grade group is of a similar size.

Friday’s game opened with Lebanon losing a fumble on its first play because of what Childs said was a quarterback-center exchange problem. Plymouth (7-0) scored on a 7-yard touchdown run three plays later and ran for a 2-point conversion and an 8-0 lead. Lebanon forged an 8-8 tie by driving 82 yards in 15 plays, scoring on Eylander’s 6-yard run and conversion carry.

The Bobcats went up, 15-8, with a 19-yard touchdown pass on the second quarter’s opening play. The teams exchanged punts and Lebanon lined up to boot again, resulting in Eylander’s attempted kick being blocked at the 5-yard line and recovered by Plymouth in the end zone. An extra point put the visitors up, 22-8, four minutes before halftime.

Plymouth scored again 11 seconds before intermission. The Bobcats lost a fumble two plays into the second half but intercepted Preston’s slow-developing screen pass attempt and returned it for a touchdown three minutes into the third quarter.

Preston completed one of four passes for 13 yards. Lebanon’s Solomon Mellish rushed 10 times for 21 yards.

Plymouth’s Garrett Macomber carried nine times for 74 yards and a touchdown. Backfield mate Nolan Farina ran nine times for 55 yards and two touchdowns. Bobcats quarterback Ben Olmstead completed five of nine passes for 78 yards and a touchdown.

Notes: Plymouth attempted one pass during the second half. … The last team to beat the Bobcats? Lebanon, last year. … The Raiders honored seniors Eylander, Mellish, Matt Gilligan, Ryan Shippa, Tyler Spaulding and Tyler Tewksbury before the game. … Plymouth senior kicker Danny Carey is the son of former Lebanon athletic director Kelly Carey. His father, Jim, is the Bobcats’ athletic director.

Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.