PARIS — Davis Turner wasn’t watching the clock or fretting about the close score Friday night. With Lewiston closing in on the go-ahead touchdown, the Oxford Hills defender was watching just one thing.
He knew a pass play was coming, and Turner was focused on Lewiston quarterback Quintarian Brown.
“I just read the quarterback’s eyes,” said Turner.
Instead of a Blue Devils score and Lewiston lead, Turner took the interception back 97 yards to give the Vikings the momentum it swing it needed. Oxford Hills held off another Lewiston threat late for a 34-20 win to open the season.
“It was right into my hands, and I wasn’t going to let up,” Turner said about the interception that turned a 14-12 lead into 21-12. “I just locked straight and kept running.”
Oxford Hills added a Malik Geiger score from the 6 later in the fourth and the Vikings were up 28-12. A late Lewiston score on a touchdown pass from Jared Rubin to Ace Curry closed the gap to 28-20 with 3:42 left. The Blue Devils got the ball back on an Oxford Hills fumble but couldn’t rally. The Vikings stymied Lewiston and took over on downs. Turner finished the game off with a run from the 4. It was his fourth score of the game.
“I felt like we had confidence throughout the whole thing,” Turner said of his team’s defensive stand. “We built each other up. We had full confidence. Every stand we had, we had no doubt that we could stop them.”
Despite struggling offensively, Lewiston had its chances but couldn’t produce the big plays when it needed them.
“I’m very disappointed,” said Lewiston coach Bill County. “This isn’t the way we thought we were going to come out. I thought Oxford Hills played tremendous defense.”
Both teams had to make adjustments after losing their quarterbacks in the second half. Lewiston’s Brown was hurt when he tweaked an ankle on one of the final plays of the first half. He only came back onto the field to throw a couple of passes in the second half, one of which was picked by Turner.
Oxford Hills lost quarterback Brady LaFrance when he was ejected in the third quarter. He hit a player after the whistle. The game featured nearly 185 yards in penalties.
“We want the kids to be composed,” said Oxford Hills coach Mark Soehren. “We lost a little bit of our composure, but the kids brought that back. We work with the two’s as much as we can but it’s not as much as we’d like. Matt Smith did a nice job when he come in. We scored 20 points after Brady was ejected.”
The Vikings had a 14-12 lead at the half. Lewiston scored first on a Sheon James 55-yard interception return in the first quarter. Then the Vikings answered when Turner scored from the 10. The Vikings took the lead in the second on another Turner run from the 10 with 8:37 left in the half. Another James interception return, this time from the 70, got Lewiston within 14-12 at the half.
With both teams adjusting to new quarterbacks in the third, penalties wreaked havoc and played was pretty ugly. After a defensive stand, Lewiston took over at the 30 and had the chance to score but was forced to punt. After the Vikings fumbled the ball away, Lewiston had another try. The Blue Devils moved down to the 2 before a fumble moved them back. With the ball at the 7, Brown came in for a pass play on fourth down. Turner spotted a short pass to the left side and was off the other way with it.
“It’s kind of phenomenal,” County said of the fact Lewiston had its chances despite the injuries and struggles on offense. “I really felt good when it was 14-12 and we were had the ball going into the end zone on the 1. Then we threw a 100-yard pick. At that point, we could at least stay within out game plan and see what happened. After that play, we had to play seven-on-seven.”
Lewiston threw another interception on its next possession. Ian Lejonhud picked this one. That led to Geiger’s touchdown and the 28-12 lead with 8:39 left.
“The defense did a phenomenal job,” Soehren said. “There were at least two goal line stands if not three. We bent but didn’t break. The kids manned up. They believe in what they’re done in the offseason. “
Turner led Oxford Hills with 116 on 21 carriers while Geiger added 76 yards on 12 carriers.
“We’re a physical team,” Soehren said. “We always have been. We hope to win that battle on most nights. We know we’re a good inside running team. We have to work on the outside running and the outside pass.”
Lewiston’s offense threw for 114 yards and Rubin did a nice job pressed into a tough situation late in the game. The Blue Devils were missing both Brown and Tyler County to injuries.
“We were down to our third quarterback and he actually threw the ball pretty well,” County said.
kmills@sunjournal.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
