AUBURN — Lewiston forced a safety before many had filed into the bleachers at Walton Field, and the Blue Devils dominated from that point on.
The Blue Devils ran the ball over and over against Edward Little and earned a 31-7 victory in the 178th Battle of the Bridge on Friday.
Edward Little received the opening kickoff, but on the third play of the drive, Lewiston’s defense forced Red Eddies quarterback Giles Paradie into a safety to take a 2-0 lead only 1:22 into the contest.
On their first drive, the Blue Devils use seven minutes of clock and ran the ball eight times, capped by a five-yard touchdown run from Danny May that put the Lewiston up 9-0.
Lewiston carried the ball 38 times in the game for a total of 192 yards.
“The holes were opening up well,” Lewiston’s Dylon Jackson said. “The line was blocking well and I feel like we really did our job. … (The goal) was to run and run them down. We didn’t pass much, but we just wanted to run.”
Lewiston stopped Edward Little on fourth down on the ensuing drive, giving the Blue Devils prime field position at the Eddies’ 36-yard line.
Jackson ran for seven yards to set up a touchdown pass from Kameron Caron to Jaiden Caron from 29 yards out that put Lewiston up 15-0 with 31 seconds left in the first quarter.
The touchdown pass into the back corner of the end zone was one of only six throws Caron attempted, four of which were completed for 100 yards.
“Kameron is a sophomore and let’s call it what it is, he’s on his way to being a junior,” Lewiston coach Darren Hartley said. “He’s the best athlete we have on the field, physically. Faster, stronger, he’s just a kid, so he makes mistakes, forgets some things sometimes, but as far as athleticism he’s just a freakishly athletic kid.”
The Red Eddies later forced a fumble on their own two-yard line, but then went three-and-out. A poor punt set up the Blue Devils in nice field position again, and this time Jackson finished the drive by scoring on the ground from two yards away and after a successful two-point conversion the lead was 23-0.
Lewiston’s defense also played well in the first half, allowing only 39 yards.
“If Edward Little tried to come out and play balanced defensively, we felt our package could play with their balanced offense,” Hartley said. “You’ll note in the second half, when they spread us out, they’re a handful. I thought we would see a balanced attack and that’s what we prepared for. I am proud of our guys for tackling well, not letting them outside the box and we really played a complete first half on defense.”
The second half started just like the first half, with points, as May scored his second touchdown, this one from three yards out, to put the visitors up 31-0 after a two-point conversion. The score was set up by a 62-yard run from Jackson up the right sideline. Jackson finished with 87 yards rushing.
“He’s unbelievable,” Hartley said of Jackson. “I tell him this all the time, he’s undersized, he’s physically fit like you read about, we use him in multiple positions and he’s the spark.
“The biggest problem on our team this year is focus, and when we’ve needed a play on both sides of the ball, his attrition rate is much lower and he never loses his focus in the big plays. That’s exactly what he did tonight.”
Paradie led the Eddies’ offense on a 67-yard drive, EL’s longest of the evening, on the team’s first possession of the second half. Paradie accounted for all of the positive yards on the drive, including four completions in a row before capping off the drive with a two-yard touchdown run on a QB sneak.
After stopping Lewiston fourth down, EL got the ball back with around 13 minutes left in the game.
On the first play of the ensuing drive, though, Jackson picked off a Paradie pass to regain possession.
“I try to attack the ball as hard as I can, and I give all my effort and I feel like that makes me a better player,” Jackson said. “Most people are timid and I try to get out of that and give them confidence to do the same thing.”
Edward Little’s final drive was a solid one. Although it didn’t end in points, Paradie completed seven passes in a row and accounted for 66 yards.
“We spread the ball out more,” Edward Little coach Dave Sterling said. “We had some penalties that hindered us as far as moving the ball consistently, but we were able to get some decent plays and get some offense. It’s just a little bit of an adjustment you have to make in the second half. We had some penalties that put us behind the sticks.”
The Red Eddies have battled the injury bug all season, but had several players return from injuries Friday.
“It’s a learning experience,” Sterling said. “A lot of our seniors, this was one game they were able to get semi-healthy for and still weren’t 100 percent. Some guys were only 50 percent, but they’re great young men, showed spirit, and showed the underclassmen how to fight.”
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