LEWISTON — It doesn’t take more than five minutes as a spectator to see that the difference between Lewiston and mightier Class A football programs to the south is as much mental as physical, right now.
The Blue Devils believed they could beat Oxford Hills and Bangor, two rivals they know well from their former days in the Pine Tree Conference, and found a way to do it.
Greater Portland schools? A different animal. Portland High School performed as every bit the No. 1 team in the state Saturday night and Lewiston looked decidedly intimidated in a systematic 65-0 drubbing at Don Roux Field.
Cheverus and Windham picked apart Lewiston (2-4) with similar, startling ease.
“It’s three times now when we play the big guys,” Lewiston coach Bruce Nicholas. “It is. It’s mental. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and when I was at Oak Hill it was the same thing (against upper-level opponents). Then it went away. We played those guys tougher eventually, but we’re still growing.”
Portland (6-0) held Lewiston to minus-28 net yards and two first downs. With most of the game played in Lewiston territory, only one of the Bulldogs’ nine scoring drives covered more than 46 yards.
And the Bulldogs did it without the leading rusher in Class A North, George Chaison-Lapine, who was held out to rest an injury. The league’s No. 3 ground gainer, Joe Esposito, had no problem serving as the workhorse, carrying 23 times for 185 yards and five touchdowns.
Nick Archambault scored twice. Jake Knop and Joe Fusco each reached the end zone for the Bulldogs.
“Espo carried the load. They all carried the load,” Portland coach Jim Hartman said. “Archie ran well and blocked well. Fusco blocked well.”
Jake Hunnewell had four of Portland’s six sacks of Lewiston quarterback Jared Rubin. The Bulldogs also produced a safety with three consecutive tackles for loss late in the first quarter, the final one by Fusco.
Portland’s 43 points allowed are the lowest in Class A. Lewiston’s 274 are the most.
“That’s our strength, defense, and I thought we played extremely well,” Hartman said. “I was really most proud of that.”
It was 30-0 after one quarter and 51-0 at the half, at which time the new, mandated running clock kicked in.
Gordon Beckwith and Garrett Poussard provided the highlights for Lewiston with interceptions of Issiah Bachelder.
Even that was a good-news, bad-news scenario. Beckwith’s second-quarter gem was stripped away and recovered by Fusco before the end of the play.
Poussard’s pick provided Lewiston’s only good field position of the night at the Portland 17 early in the third quarter.
Not even a pass interference penalty could help the Devils break the shutout. Hunnewell had a sack and Ethan Hoyt took down Roman Dennis for a two-yard loss. Rubin’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete.
“We were flat. When we saw 42 (Chaison-Lapine) wasn’t going to play for them, our reaction should have been, ‘Hey, maybe we’ve got a better chance,’” Nicholas said. “Of course the game was scheduled for (Friday) night. It got canceled. The kids had a workshop day off. They had (Saturday) off. But Portland had the same thing.”
Other than an 18-yard gain by Dennis and a 10-yard Porter rush, both in the first half, the Bulldogs stopped a majority of Lewiston plays for zero or negative yardage.
“It was a tough spot,” Hartman said. “We have to take care of business. Windham is coming. Cheverus is getting better.”
The road gets easier for Lewiston, with Massabesic (0-6) and rival Edward Little (2-4) to finish the regular season.
Thanks to their September success, the Devils likely are locked into the playoffs.
“We could be 4-4 in two weeks,” Nicholas said. “We’ve talked about that before, that we’ve got a big plan and tonight was just a step. But we wanted to be better than this.”
koakes@sunjournal.com
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