SKOWHEGAN — Who needs an advantage in time of possession when you can score on almost every possession?
Lewiston’s first-team offense and special teams units scored on five of the eight chances they got to carry and pass the ball Friday, leading the team to a 35-22 win over a clock-chewing, run-based Skowhegan squad on a chilly and foggy night at Reginald P. Clark Field.
“They were very physical, and I told the kids coming in, I don’t care how many games they’ve won or haven’t won, Skowhegan will always punch you in the mouth,” Lewiston coach Bill County said. “No matter how the game was going, I knew it was going to be a physical game.”
Matt Therrien led the Blue Devils on this day, racking up 52 yards rushing and a touchdown on just five carries and adding a 94-yard kick return for a touchdown in the second quarter to answer a Skowhegan score.
“I actually misplayed that one, I thought it was going to carry to the end zone, and it bounced at my feet,” Therrien admitted. “The ball bounced around, and when I picked it up, I just found a small hole and charged through it.”
Through the air, quarterback Chris Madden found a favorite target in Cody Dussault. The speedy receiver hauled in passes of 61 and 29 yards for scores as Madden finished the night with 139 yards through the air on six completions.
“We’re a running team, we have been since Coach County has been here, and we understand that,” Madden said. “The last couple of years, we’ve had Ronnie Turner here, who can throw the ball really well, and I came in this year hoping to throw the ball a little bit. We practiced that all summer. We haven’t thrown the ball too much, but it was good to come out here and show teams we can do it if we need to.”
The Devils also had a 37-yard touchdown pass from Madden to Jeff Keene called back on a holding penalty, and the subsequent play was a perfect feed from Madden to Keene which popped out of the receiver’s hands.
Keene did score on a one-yard run in the first quarter to start things off for Lewiston. Skowhegan marched back down the field with an eight-minute, 46-second drive that led to an Ethan Johnson quarterback sneak.
Therrien’s kick return negated that score, and the Madden-to-Dussault connection padded Lewiston’s lead less than four minutes later.
Lewiston opened the second half by marching the ball 75 yards on five plays in just 1:28. Therrien’s second TD of the game, a 27-yard scamper, capped that drive and put the Devils on top 27-6.
Kaleb Austin led the Indians with 125 yards on 19 carries, many coming on toss plays inside the tackles.
“We’re very young, and we’ve come a long way in these three games,” Skowhegan coach Mike Marston said. “The kids were really unsure about themselves the first couple of games, and (Friday) they found out, hey, we can play with people.”
Austin found the end zone in the third quarter on a one-yard run, and the teams traded touchdowns in the fourth. Dussault’s second TD catch on the first play of the final stanza got things started, and Brandon Corson caught a pass from Johnson with 2:23 to play in the game to cap the scoring.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
