PARIS — Impatience was setting in.

Jeff Keene, a senior and a starting back for Lewiston, hadn’t found the end zone all preseason.

Sure, Friday night’s tilt against Oxford Hills at the Doun Gouin Athletic Complex was only the first of eight regular-season games. But for Keene, as a senior, he’d already waited long enough.

“I’d been cramping up a lot and sitting out a lot of plays,” Keene said. “I wanted to get in there, get my work done and win some football games.”

On the second play from scrimmage in the second quarter, Keene burst through the middle of a young-yet-speedy offensive line and dove at the goal line, landing well inside the paint to record Lewiston’s first touchdown of the season, and the only points the Blue Devils’ defense would need.

Keene scored again later in the quarter and Joe McKinnon added another in the fourth to lead Lewiston to a 21-0 season-opening victory over Oxford Hills.

“The kids’ expectations are pretty high, and they’re a little disappointed with some of the mistakes they made,” Lewiston coach Bill County said, “but a goose egg on the scoreboard is tremendously important, and as much as people like to score points, that’s our first goal.”

Keene again suffered from cramping in his legs during the game, and was limited to just five carries for 44 yards, mostly in the first half.

But that was fine with County, who has a bevy of backfield options this season. Jeff Turcotte was the Devils’ workhorse on this night, racking up 96 yards on 14 carries. McKinnon added 80 on 11 rushes and one touchdown.

“We really believe it’s a run-by-committee scenario,” County said. “They’re all a threat whenever they get the ball. We need to get a little better up front, but we’re young, and we’ll get there.”

The Vikings, meanwhile, boasted the evening’s top rusher in Chris Priest, who carried 29 times for 106 yards, though he never got close to the end zone.

“He’s a tough kid, he’s very determined,” Oxford Hills coach Nate Danforth said. “He really wanted to come out here and help these young linemen grow up. he pounded it into those holes, and you could see that giving the line confidence each time he was able to make it through.”

Neither team managed a score in the first quarter, though the Blue Devils nearly did — twice. On a second-and-six from the Oxford Hills 24, Keene scampered into the end zone, but the play was called back on a penalty. Two plays later, quarterback Chris Madden hit a wide-open Cody Dussault down the right side, but the receiver juggled and dropped the ball with nothing in front of him but the swampy air and 20 yards of green, white-lined grass.

Lewiston’s defense linited the Vikings to just two first downs in the first quarter.

In the second, Keene found the end zone twice, once on a five-yard rush of the middle, and then on a 27-yard run that began as a run up the middle that he bounced to the outside. He capped that run with another dive, this time to the pylon.

Oxford Hills continued to pound the ball with Priest, but the Devils wouldn’t break.

“They run the little counter trey very well, with the fullback going one way, and it looks like it’s taking a long time to develop, and then he finds a seam,” County said. “He does a nice job.”

Lewiston’s final touchdown came with 8:37 to play, as McKinnon broke through the middle of the line for a 15-yard score.

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