LEWISTON – It may have taken three days to get the game in but once it started it took no time at all.

No. 6 Lewiston scored six first-period goals by five different players to get the early jump, then cruised to a 21-6 preliminary round win over No. 11 Oxford Hills in Eastern Maine high school lacrosse playoff action at Franklin Pasture Monday afternoon.

The game was originally slated for last Friday but a number of conflicts mixed with poor field conditions pushed the start back.

The Blue Devils advance to the quarterfinals Tuesday afternoon at No. 3 Mt. Blue.

Lewiston (10-3) came out firing from the opening whistle and it took less than two minutes for the Devils to get on the board. Zach Sheltra took the feed from Tony Travaglini, who had intercepted a pass from behind the Vikings net.

By the first break, Matt Parker had scored twice, while Bobby Labbe, Jon Fournier and Josh Rivet also recorded goals.

“Any time you aren’t playing 100 percent ball against these guys, they will put it right on you,” said Oxford Hills coach Cimeron Colby. “That happened to us at the start of the first quarter, and the third quarter as well.”

The second quarter was Oxford Hills’ moment in the sun. The team netted the ball five times in the quarter and cut into Lewiston’s margin at 7-4 and eventually 8-5 at the half.

“Our transition game stepped up,” said Colby. “In the first we were just throwing it to the wrong colored jersey. We didn’t do that anymore and we contained much better in the second quarter.

Thomas Kothe led the blitz with three goals for the Vikings (4-9).

“We weren’t going right at them and it was kind of making me upset,” said Sheltra. “I knew we could beat these guys and we just needed to play our game. Fortunately we got back it.”

Whatever cracks the Vikings found disappeared in the final 24 minutes. Lewiston scored 13 goals in the second half to cement the win.

“It was nice to see the sun and I think they were charged up,” said Lewiston coach Tom Fournier. “This game was kind of our MO all season. We play in fits and starts. We are two different teams and once you are in the playoffs, you can’t do that. If we let our minds wander tomorrow, we will be in trouble.”

Jon Fournier led the way with five goals for the Devils, followed by Sheltra with four and David Patry with three. Four players each netted a pair. Matt Parker registered five assists.

“I was very happy with our balanced offense today,” said coach Fournier. “That’s another thing we try for, not to have just two dangerous guys but whoever is open. Matt Parker had some great looks and just kept dumping the ball into the attackers for layups.”

Kothe ended up with four goals for Oxford Hills.

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