AUBURN — In the regular season’s final game, the Blue Devils went out with a bang.

Lewiston defeated its cross-river rival Edward Little 9-0 in the last match of the year on Wednesday evening behind five goals from Sam Payne.

“We ran through our systems,” Lewiston coach Ben Fournier said. “We knew EL would come out and play hard, so we told our guys to play with your head up and run through our systems that worked for us all year and not to get away from that. It paid off for us.”

Lewiston (9-3) poured on the offensive pressure in the first quarter, relentlessly attacking Edward Little’s goalkeeper Austin Fournier. Fournier held his ground the best he could, making 14 saves in the game, but Lewiston’s offense showed that it’s a well-oiled machine heading into the postseason.

Payne scored the game’s first goal of the contest in the first two minutes of the game, setting the tone for the first half. The Blue Devils didn’t give up much possession in the first 12 minutes.

Elijah Brito scored next for Lewiston after squirting the ball right under the net of Fournier. Dante Scales finished out the first-period scoring.

Lewiston kept the shots coming in the second quarter, putting up seven on target. The Red Eddies (2-10) earned more possession than they had in the first and attacked the net more often.

Lewiston goalie Hunter Steele didn’t give up any goals by saving four first-half shots, but two shots from EL hit the post.

“Hunter played great, he’s been a great player for us all year long,” Fournier said. “He deserved it, he deserves to end his regular season on a shutout like this.”

For Payne, offense is made easier knowing that your goalie is on fire.

“Hunter is incredible,” Payne said. “He’s probably one of the best goalies in the state, and you can always count on him to make a big save and be there for you clearing the ball and doing everything. He’s amazing.”

Payne scored 5:30 into the second quarter after sprinting in and scoring straight on. Willie Blanchette scored after Payne with 50 seconds left in the half.

While the score was not in its favor, Edward Little coach Thomas Smith knew that without Fournier the Red Eddies would have been worse off.

“I think he played fantastic,” Smith said. “He’s been in a backup role for a significant portion of the season but he’s not been a backup for a significant drop-off, and I think he showed that tonight. His positioning was perfect.”

The second half was much of the same.

EL pushed the tempo and tried to get good looks on net but Steele proved to be too much.

The next two Lewiston goals were scored by Payne and both times he made a spin move to create just enough of an opening to find the back of the net. The passing leading up to both goals was perfect for the Blue Devils and the offensive chemistry is at its highest levels of the season.

“Sam’s a very solid player and a lot of the time he draws the other team’s best defender, but he’s very good at what he does,” Fournier said. “He’s really good at dodging in tight and getting past defenders and good at getting that shot off quick, so a lot of the times the goalie doesn’t see the ball until it’s in the net.”

Lewiston ended the game with one last goal from Payne and then a goal from Logan Michaud, both off of tipped balls.

“I think our confidence is definitely up,” Payne said. “We have learned a lot about toughness on ground balls and getting through adversity when times got tough. When we were going through scoring droughts, we learned how to get it done and persevere.”

EL didn’t end the season how it would have liked to, but Smith is proud of his team through and through.

“This year’s team, we asked 100 percent from all of them,” Smith said. “I asked them to be warriors on a day-by-day basis because we didn’t have the numbers for a lot of substitutions and they did that. We didn’t win a lot of games and didn’t get a lot of points on the scoreboard, but they kept their mind right, kept their attitudes, and they, again, gave us 100 percent all year long.”

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