LEWISTON — Lewiston coach Bill County wondered whether his Blue Devils could quickly adapt to the speed of Friday night’s Pine Tree Conference game with Brunswick.
As it turned out, the Blue Devils’ speed set the tone, and the Dragons had to spend virtually the whole night playing catch-up.
Lewiston burst out to a 21-0 lead and cruised to a 28-12 victory at Don Roux Field to improve to 4-0 on the season.
“Quite honestly, when you play three teams that were 0-3 (to start the season), and then you play a quality opponent, the speed of the game is different,” County said. “I was worried that it might take five minutes for us to get used to it.”
After stopping Brunswick (2-2) at midfield on the game’s opening possession, Lewiston took over at its own 27 and needed just five plays to find the end zone. That happened when junior Jeff Turcotte turned the corner around the left side and sprinted untouched for a 47-yard score.
“As soon as I saw the outside, my eyes got wide. I just wanted that so bad,” said Turcotte, who rushed for 67 yards on 10 carries. “The O-line’s been doing great. We’ve had two great days of practice.”
“We actually wanted to get the ball first because I said, ‘You know, if it’s going to take us a series to catch up to the speed of the game, I’d rather do it on offense and punt than do it on defense and give up a touchdown,'” County said. “That first touchdown was huge, but not as big as the second one.”
The second one came thanks in part to a forced fumble on the kickoff following Turcotte’s touchdown. Lewiston recovered at Brunswick’s 41, got an 18-yard run from Jeff Keene, a 14-yard pass completion from Chris Madden to Joe McKinnon, then punched it in from two yards out on a fourth-down QB sneak by Madden to make it 14-0 less than eight minutes into the game.
Brunswick’s hole got even deeper when junior running back Dylan Walton, the PTC’s second-leading rusher, felt his shoulder pop out while being helped to his feet after being knocked out of bounds on a run late in the first quarter.
“We came into this game thinking about Walton,” Turcotte said. “Of course, he’s a great athlete. We didn’t want a let-up. We saw him go out and we knew it’s a big loss for them, but they’re still going to be coming at us.”
Without their home run threat, the Dragons tried to move the ball methodically using the tandem of Keith Kitchens (19 carries, 128 yard, two TDs) and Jordan Rysdham (17 carries, 65 yards). They had some success, entering Lewiston territory to start the second quarter. But a bobble by QB Kyle Franklin resulted in a nine-yard loss and a sack by Cody Dussault (two sacks) forced them to punt.
Eliot Chicoin partially deflected the punt to set the Devils up at Brunswick’s 34. Once they advanced into Brunswick territory, Madden (4-for-8, 99 yards) connected with Abdi Osman to convert a 4th-and-12 to keep the drive alive. Three plays later, Madden sneaked it in for his second touchdown and the 21-0 bulge.
While Brunswick was able to run the ball, particularly up the middle, it had two more drives stall in Lewiston territory.
“We just didn’t have the capability to score quickly,” Brunswick coach Dan Cooper said. “They could afford to just sit there and play the bend-but-don’t-break defense. I don’t think there’s any panic on their sideline about taking chances. They don’t need to.”
On their first drive of the second half, the Dragons couldn’t get past Lewiston’s 40, so they punted to pin the Blue Devils back to their own 6. Yet, helped by two Brunswick penalties for late hits, Lewiston needed just seven plays for Jeff Keene (seven carries, 81 yards) to score an 18-yard touchdown that made it 28-0 with 2:45 left in the third quarter.
“Jeff Keene made a couple of huge plays,” County said. “He made a couple of moves where I thought we’d just put our head down and get a first down and he made a couple of moves that scared me, but he ended up being plus-15 and 20 on each of them.”
“It’s amazing,” Turcotte said of Lewiston’s speed. “We’ve done 4o-(yard dash) times. We’ve been working hard in the summer and it’s amazing. Some of these kids are just so fast, Jeff Keene, Matt Therrien, Joe McKinnon. It’s just a great backfield to have.”
Kitchens scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns for Brunswick, one from 10yards and the other from seven.
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- Scenes from Friday night’s football game between Brunswick and Lewiston.
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- Action from Friday night’s LHS vs Brunswick football game.
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- Brunswick’s Max Roberts is in a better position to make an interception, but Lewiston’s Cody Dussault manages to wrestle the ball away for a complete pass for a big gain during Friday night’s game.
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- Scenes from Friday night’s football game between Brunswick and Lewiston.
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- Lewiston’s Matt Therrien makes a diving tackle on Brunswick’s Dyaln Walton as he tries to break up the sideline on the first play from scrimmage during Friday night’s game. Therrien made the solo tackle, setting the tone for the first half where the Devils shut down the Dragon offense.
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- Lewiston’s Cody Dussault catches Brunswick quarterback Kyle Franklin in the backfield for a big loss during Friday night’s game in Lewiston.
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- Brunswick punter Stephon Stack follows through on his kick as Lewiston’s Eliot Chicoine rushes in. Chicoine deflected the punt, giving Lewiston good field position.
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- Lewiston’s Matt Therrien looks for an opening as he heads through the line and into the secondary on a big run during Friday night’s first half action in Lewiston.
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- Lewiston coaches Bill County and Matt Madden watch the action during Friday night’s game.
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- Lewiston’s Obdi Osman flies over Max Roberts after making a great catch and run for a first down during Friday night’s game in Lewiston.
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- Scenes from Friday night’s football game between Brunswick and Lewiston.
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