TURNER — Leavitt’s offense was overwhelming in the first half against Lewiston, hitting on all cylinders on its way to a 53-21 victory on Saturday night.
The Class C Hornets were celebrating homecoming, and in front of a large Libby Field crowd they scored twice on their first three plays from scrimmage.
Junior quarterback Noah Carpenter was a big factor in Leavitt’s win, throwing two touchdown passes and running for three scores. Leavitt (3-0) coach Mike Hathaway said Carpenter has good control of the offense and it showed, as he led the Hornets on six touchdown drives in the first half.
Will Keach took the opening play 61 yards on the ground for a score to give Leavitt a 7-0 lead after the extra point.
After Leavitt forced a turnover on downs, Carpenter started his huge first half with a 38-yard touchdown run on the second play of the ensuing drive.
“The boys up front did a great job,” Carpenter said. “Lewiston has some pretty big boys, and (our linemen) gave me the time I needed to make some throws and made some huge holes. I don’t think we would have done nearly as well without them.”
Like Carpenter, Hathaway heaped praise on to the offensive line after the game.
“Getting behind the O-line and running the ball, when you can start the game that way and those guys set the tone, it’s a good way to get going,” Hathaway said. “Beau Mayo is as good as anybody. You watch the tape against Portland, then this one, that dude is unreal at guard. Jace Negley was great at tackle and those guys all had it going. That was nice to see, and it sets up a lot when you can do that.”
Carpenter scored another rushing touchdown, from 4 yards out, and Maddox Demers ran in a 57-yard touchdown to give the Hornets a 27-0 lead after one quarter.
In the second quarter, Carpenter threw a pair of TD passes to Brett Coburn, including a 57-yarder.
Leavitt finished the first half with 305-yard rushing performance in the first half.
Lewiston didn’t get much going on offense in the first half until late in the second quarter when Eli Bigelow broke away for a 43-yard touchdown run to cut the Blue Devils’ deficit to 41-7 heading into halftime.
“You can learn a lot from losing,” Lewiston (1-2) coach Jason Versey said. “The best thing we can learn from losing is to be able to respond to adversity. We need to persevere and next week we have a new challenge (against Scarborough). We can learn a lot from this program, it’s a premier program, and it’s where I want this team to be in a few years.”
In the second half, Carpenter led the Hornets down the field and scored on a 16-yard touchdown run to make it 47-7 with 8:30 left in the third quarter.
Carpenter finished the game with 193 yards of total offense.
Leavitt sat its starters after that drive, but the scoring didn’t stop.
After Lewiston’s Farid Muhammed-Aceto ran it in from four yards out to cut the lead to 47-13, Keegan Reny answered for Leavitt with a 26-yard touchdown run to make it 53-13.
Bigelow scored again for Lewiston on a 15-yard run to make it 53-21 on the team’s last drive of the game.
“Coach Hathaway was pretty kind to us in the second half, and I kept our guys in because I wanted them to learn what it’s like to fight back and they did that,” Versey said. “I am very proud of them.”
After beating Class B Portland 42-8 last week, the Hornets now have a win over a Class A program heading into their road matchup with Wells on Friday.
“More than Class A, it’s just good to play Lewiston,” Hathaway said. “Our guys have grown up playing them in youth sports and we don’t get local teams often. To be able to have that game on the schedule is good. The class doesn’t matter, we’re going to play whoever we play. Our whole schedule is good.”
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