WINDHAM — As far as poor starts go, they don't get much worse than the one the Hanover High School football team suffered through Saturday afternoon.

Hanover turned the ball over on each of its first three possessions, and two of those turnovers led to Windham touchdowns. Windham's Danny Cannone cashed in on the first turnover when he returned a fumble 32 yards for the game's first TD. Making matters worse, Windham recovered the ensuing kickoff.

“You can't win in a situation like that,” Hanover coach Mike Ivanoski said following Windham's 34-6 triumph. “We were just trying to weather the storm.

“They were definitely the better team, but I think we could have done a lot better. We made a lot of mistakes.”

Windham led 19-0 after one quarter and 27-0 at halftime.

“Forcing turnovers and picking up fumbles — we practice all that stuff,” Cannone said. “We never wanted to let down, because anything can happen.”

The victory raised Windham's Division IV record to 3-0. The Jaguars have scored 134 points in their three victories.

Hanover, which turned the ball over five times, dropped to 2-1. The Marauders didn't allow a point in their first two contests.

“We talked all week about how everybody was saying how good their defense is, and how good Cavallaro [Hanover quarterback Shawn Cavallaro] is and how we weren't getting a lot of press,” Windham coach Bill Raycraft said. “We needed that ball to make some things happen, so defensively we knew we needed some three and outs and some turnovers. We didn't want to give them any material for their highlight film. We needed to play assignment football, and that's what we did.”

Windham quarterback Joe Lorenz tossed three touchdown passes in the victory. Cannone (11 yards), Thomas Anderson (12 yards) and Kellin Bail (11 yards) had the TD receptions. Bail also scored on a 17-yard run.

Hanover scored on a 4-yard pass from Cavallaro to Cyrus Rothwell-Ferraris with 49 seconds to play.

“Even at halftime I thought we were going to turn it on, and we didn't,” Ivanoski said. “It's frustrating because I know we're a better team than this.”

Windham will face St. Thomas of Dover (3-0) next weekend. St. Thomas beat Windham in the Division V championship game last year, but both moved to Division IV in the offseason.

That game was originally scheduled for Saturday in Windham, but has been moved to Friday night.

“Still don't know where we're going to finish in this division, but we're going to fight every week,” Raycraft said. “St. Thomas is coming in this week and that will give us a good indication of where we're at.”

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Roger Brown may be reached at rbrown@unionleader.com.