The Blue Devils got a pair of goals from two players and tacked on another to post a 5-0 win over Brunswick in a Kennebec Valley Conference matchup Tuesday afternoon.

The Dragons gave up two goals in the first four minutes of play and fell to 5-2 on the season in a rematch of last year’s Eastern (now Northern) Class A regional final. The Blue Devils improved to 7-0 on the season and have outscored opponents 49-3 in their first seven games.

“We knew they were a good team,” Brunswick coach Mark Roma said. “Those first two quick ones really did us in.”

Maslah Hassan netted the first goal for Lewiston just 32 seconds into the game on a Noralddin Othman assist. Just a couple minutes later, Abdi Shariff scored when Abdulkarim Abdulle earned the first of his two assists. Abdulle also had two goals.

“They’re well skilled, they’re very fast and they’re fun to watch play,” Lewiston coach Mike McGraw said.

The Blue Devils had 18 shots in the first half, keeping Dragons goalkeeper Josh Dorr busy. Dorr had 13 of his 23 saves in the first frame.

“(Dorr) played incredible,” Roma said. “It’s the nature of the position, it’s a tough position. You’ll look at the sheet and see the goals and everyone’s going to look at the keeper, but without him it would have been eight or nine to nothing.”

Shariff almost had another score just moments later, but Dorr went up for the save and tipped it out of bounds with his outstretched arm, keeping the score at 2-0. However, Hassan put in his second goal of the day at 16:36 with some crafty moves offensively with Abdulle assisting him, making it 3-0.

The Dragons failed to put a shot on goal in the first half, being forced to play defensively as the Blue Devils kept up the attack.

“It’s nice to have Zak (Zakariya Abdulle), Dek (Hassan), and (Mohamed) Khalid back there talking and controlling things,” McGraw said. “They’re pretty good back there and it helps that our midfielders get back too.”

Brunswick came out of the break with some fire, controlling the first ten minutes of the second half, but only managed one shot on goal. Off an indirect kick, the Dragons and Blue Devils battled in front of the net and Brunswick just missed the goal on what was its best chance of the game.

“We had some opportunities but we just need to work as a unit,” Roma said. “The offense will come but we need to be able to build from the back and today we didn’t do that.”

Abdulle switched from playmaker to scorer in the second half and made it 4-0 on a shot that went across the goal and just passed Dorr’s hand with 29:32 remaining in the game. The Blue Devils almost scored another one eight minutes later but Brunswick’s Noah Imperato put a stop to it, playing well defensively for the Dragons.

Lewiston outshot Brunswick 33-2 and with just ten minutes left the Blue Devils looked to have another goal but Dorr again came up with the big stop.

“Josh has played tremendous all year,” Roma said. “I think he’s the best goalkeeper in the state that I’ve seen this year. I just feel every game he makes the saves we need him to make, which is all you can ask. But when your keepers making over 20 saves you’re not going to win many games that way.”

Lewiston scored its final goal with 2:51 remaining when Abdulle put in his second of the game.

“We had to come out strong and we did,” McGraw said. “You noticed that Brunswick didn’t back down and they’re level of play increased in the second half. They’re a good team, it’s September and October, good teams get better.”

The Blue Devils had the edge in corners, 10-0, although the Dragons defended them well with the help of Dorr, Imperato and Max Gramins.

Lewiston goalkeeper Austin Wing had one save on the day.

“I feel that we grew as a team,” Roma said. “But as I told them going forward, there’s no more room for moral victories, we need to get a result every single game for the rest of the season.”

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