Noble scores 35 points in the second quarter in a come-from-behind victory.
By Kevin Mills
Staff Writer

NORTH BERWICK – It couldn’t have been a much better first quarter for the Lewiston football team Friday night.

The second quarter was another story for the Blue Devils.

Lewiston built a 14-0 lead in the first eight minutes but watched Noble roar back with an impressive second stanza. Noble outscored Lewiston 35-6 in the second quarter and marched off with an impressive 48-34 victory.

“That second quarter, I haven’t seen a second quarter from an offense like that in a long time,” said Lewiston coach Bill County.

As fast as Noble fell behind, the unbeaten Knights erased that deficit, mixing a potent passing attack with their running game. The Knights scored 35 points in the final 8:53 of the second quarter, including three touchdowns in the final 3:20.

“That showed a lot of resilience on our kids part,” said Noble coach Brendan Scully. “We were 0-8 last year. We did get a win last week, but it’s really easy to fall back into that negative feeling about themselves. For the guys to step up and comeback, it shows a lot of character on their part.”

The Knights tied it and took the lead in the second with three quick scores, two set up by Lewiston fumbles.

“A touchdown or even being even at halftime and it would have been a different game,” said County. “Both fumbles occurred at midfield. So you wouldn’t panic and feel like they were going to hurt you right away, and they scored immediately on both turnovers.”

Quarterback Miles Johnson connected with James Dobson on both scores. The second came with 46 seconds left after Dobson bumped into his own blocker and still managed to throw the ball for a 43-yard scoring play.

“We haven’t had the opportunity to throw the ball very much,” said Scully. “So I don’t know if they knew we could throw the ball the way that we can.”

Johnson threw for 169 yards on six completions in the opening half. He finished with 176 yards total on seven completions. Noble’s ground game got 200 yards on 21 carries from Dacota Cotten.

“There were times that I thought that our defensive back didn’t do a bad job in covering,” said County. “Then they did do a nice job catching us in between.”

Lewiston moved within a touchdown early in the third quarter. Spaulding, who led the Blue Devils with 185 yards on 20 carries, scrambled away for 63 yards and a TD on the Blue Devils first possession of the half. Noble got the lead back to 42-27 with 51 seconds left in the third. On fourth-and-seven from the seven, Johnson scrambled on the play action and hit Jeff Lapointe at the 1. He leaned in and scored with the second effort. Lewiston added a Jake Angelides 84-yard kickoff return in the fourth, his second of the game and third of the year.

“I was proud of the kids the way they came out in the second half,” said County. “We scored on that first play. Then we gave up some yardage, and they scored again, and that took the wind out of our sails.”

Lewiston raced out to a quick 14-0 lead in the opening quarter. While the defense held Noble to minus-three yards on its first two possessions, the Blue Devils put together a pair of lengthy drives. Spaulding capped off the first possession with a 14-yard run with 3:43 left in the quarter. Angelides scored on a 27-yard scamper as time expired in the first.

The Knights came to life in a hurry in the second. Noble quickly erased the deficit with a 17-yard pass from Johnson to Jon Jalbert and a 70-yard run down the right sideline by Cotten. In a span of just 3:06, the Knights tied it.

The momentum took a quick swing back in Lewiston’s favor when Angelides took the subsequent kickoff back 82 yards to put Lewiston up 20-14 with 5:34 left in the half.

It was all Noble the rest of the half, though. Cotten scored on a 2-yard run to tie it 20-20 with 3:20 left. Then Lewiston’s fumbles set up the Knights final two strikes. Johnson hooked up with Dobson on a 40-yard pass and then connected with a 43-yard strike with 46 seconds left.