AUBURN — Teven Colon and the Edward Little Red Eddies gave the hundreds of football fans wrapped around Walton Field tighter than the blankets and jackets reason No. 166 why people should never leave a game in their storied rivalry with Lewiston before the final siren wails.
Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Edward Little's Jimmy Foss finally catches up to Lewiston's Andy Pulk after chasing him half the way down the field as Pulk almost broke the run for a touchdown. Foss dragged him down at the 1 yard line.
Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Lewiston's Matt Therrien, left, almost intercepts a pass intended for Edward Little's Josh Delong during first half action of Friday night's game at Walton Field.
Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Edward Little quarterback Teven Colon has no place to go as the Lewiston defensive line clogs the middle, dragging him down for a loss on the play.
Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Edward Little's Jimmy Foss finally catches up to Lewiston's Andy Pulk after chasing him half the way down the field as Pulk almost broke the run for a touchdown. Foss dragged him down at the 1 yard line.
Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Edward Little quarterback Teven Colon bobbles a hike while in the shotgun position during Friday night's game at Walton Field. Colon gained control of the ball, but not before the LHS defensive tackled him for a loss on the play.
After jumping out to a 21-0 lead, the Blue Devils fought off Colon and the Eddies' furious comeback, holding on for a 29-26 victory despite the Edward Little junior quarterback's 437 all-purpose yards, all of which came in the final three quarters.
"It was a well-played game, and it was another one of those game where we held a big lead of 20-plus points and couldn't capitalize," Lewiston coach Bill County said. "Obviously I'm thrilled, and no matter what you tell juniors and seniors in high school, no matter how good you feel about this game, both teams are going to play well, and it's always, always going to be some kind of dogfight. I was just hoping it wasn't going to be this tight."
"Lewiston's a better football team, but the Eddies showed that after a long, long campaign, we were up to the task," EL coach Darren Hartley said. "We went down 21-0, we got the ball back and I told the guys, if we don't answer right now, if we don't score, this might end up being 50-0. They knew I wasn't lying."
The Blue Devils scored on their first drive of the game on an Andy Pulk 13-yard run, and tacked on another on the first play of the second quarter on another Pulk run. Fullback Eddie Chan padded the Devils' lead, pounding it up the middle from a yard out with 7:18 to play in the first half.
Then, Teven Colon strapped the Eddies to his shoulders and took off — quite literally.
Four plays later, the QB scampered 37 yards for a touchdown to get his squad on the board. EL threatened again before the half, but Lewiston held for four plays on first-and-goal from the 3-yard line to maintain a 14-point edge.
"After making that stand, it was good to go into halftime that way," County said.
The fun was just beginning.
The Eddies marched down the field with the same fervor Lewiston had in the first quarter, capping an 11-play, 87-yard drive with a 1-yard Colon run. After forcing the Devils to punt on their next series, Colon handled the punt and ran back 66 yards to the Lewiston 14. While he got treatment for a cramp, backup QB Josh Delong lofted a 14-yard strike to Jimmy Foss. A missed extra point left EL trailing by one.
"I thought, 'Let's tie this thing, let's get this even and get the crowd excited,'" Hartley said. "He missed the kick, but for him to go out there and do what he did, to try that without hesitation like that, he's got a lot of character."
Lewiston back Jeff Keene, finally back to full strength, scampered 47 yards on the first play of the fourth quarter, and the Devils went for two and ran it in to establish a nine-point lead.
"We were excited we got the two points in to go ahead by nine, and then we turn around, kick the ball off and he goes the other way," County said.
'He' was Colon, this time breaking an 80-yard kickoff return up the left sideline for a touchdown. A failed conversion left the EL deficit at three.
"Obviously there were other kids on the field who played well," County said, "but I kept looking and asking, 'How do we defend that? What do we have to change, what do we have to do?' There really was no answer. We just had to keep playing aggressive football and try and give ourselves an opportunity."
Aggressive defense finally paid off. After nearly stuffing Keene for a safety (the nose of the ball was two inches off goal line), the Eddies got the ball back at the Lewiston 31-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, Colon fumbled the ball after a 6-yard gain. Lewiston recovered, ran a couple of plays and then knelt down the final three plays to run the clock out.
"Good team from Lewiston, great kids and what a football game," Hartley said.
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