AUBURN — Knowing well what happened on opening night a year ago, when they narrowly escaped an upset bid by Edward Little, the Bangor Rams left nothing to chance Friday.

The Rams rode a four-touchdown effort from junior Dane Johnson and got two more from senior Langston Hamer-Nagle as they cruised to a 48-6 opening-night win over Edward Little at Walton Field.

Johnson finished with 152 yards rushing on 30 carries, but he earned two of his touchdowns on defense and special teams.

In the second quarter — during which the teams combined for 40 of the game’s 54 points, Johnson registered a 28-yard interception return for a TD, and also an 83-yarder on a kickoff return after slicing through the Eddies’ coverage unscathed.

Early in the game, despite a lopsided time-of-possession total, the Rams held only a 7-0 advantage thanks to a 14-yard run from Johnson. That capped a 14-play, 75-yard drive to open the game, during which the Rams completed five first downs. All but two of those plays were Johnson carries.

EL went three-and-out on its only possession of the opening stanza. The Rams regained control of the ball after a punt at their own 36. Again using a heavy dose of Johnson, they marched back into EL territory and capped this drive with a Hamer-Nagle 1-yard plunge early in the second quarter.

Then came the fireworks — and EL miscues.

A muffed snap on a punt on the Eddies’ next series gave the ball back to Bangor at the EL 7-yard line. Johnson finished that drive in one play for his second TD of the night.

EL’s kick returner dropped the ensuing kickoff and the Rams recovered at the Eddies’ 24. Four plays later, Hamer-Nagle notched his second for a 28-0 lead.

On the very next play from scrimmage for EL, Johnson stepped in front of a shallow pass from EL quarterback Matthew Verrill and scampered 28 yards for another TD.

The lone EL bright spot of the quarter came on its next series. Hunter Martin burst through the left side of the line and outran the defense, his blockers and the officials for a 65-yard score — the Eddies’ only points of the game.

Bangor put a damper on the home crowd’s burgeoning excitement on the kickoff, which Johnson ran back 83 yards to put the Rams ahead 41-6.

Neither team scored in a low-key third quarter, and with second-string players in the game in the fourth, Bangor tacked on seven more points in the form of a Matt Duff score and Brennan Corliss PAT.

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