Lewiston knew that one of the keys to success this year would be how quickly its young offensive line developed.

The Blue Devils took a big step in last Friday’s 14-7 comeback win over Mt. Blue, but coach Bill County isn’t ready to say his line has fully matured. It had some difficulty with some halftime adjustments designed to neutralize Mt. Blue’s big defensive front that didn’t work, so the Devils decided to keep things simple. Going back to the basics proved effective, as the line paved the way for 112 of tailback Jared Turcotte’s game-high 226 yards in the fourth quarter.

“I’ll bet I ran the same play 15, 20 times there in the second half,” County said.

“We feel like, physically, we have a pretty good bunch,” he added. “But one of the things about having inexperienced linemen is adjusting to different blocking schemes is a little bit difficult this time of year. I think my linemen are 100 percent better than they were a week ago (in an opening night loss to Bangor.). They’re all juniors except for (senior) Andy Ouellette. I knew coming into the season that they could be a quality line at some point during the season, but to open up against Bangor and Mt. Blue, there’s not time for them to mature.”

Illness raiding Oak Hill

Another team trying to get its offensive line to gel is Oak Hill. And like Lewiston, the Raiders are having to go back to the basics. But health, not inexperience, is the problem right now. Guards Dan Bryce and Drew Jannelle are expected to miss tonight’s game against Belfast due to illness.

“We’re dealing with it by putting a sophomore there and a sophomore there and saying ‘OK, this is how we run dive again,'” Oak Hill coach Bruce Nicholas said. “We’ve gone right back to A1 with them almost. It’s tough, but we’ll do with it the best we can.”

Most coaching staffs go through the season expanding their playbooks as their players get the base offense down pat. But the absences on the line have limited what the Raiders can do offensively.

“We haven’t really expanded our play list for about two weeks straight, and we may not, with the young line and the injuries and the sickness that are now adding up,” Nicholas said. “We’ve probably only added two plays in two weeks.”

Secret’s out

Maybe two years ago, or even last year, Jay might have spent more time celebrating a 13-0 victory over Winthrop and an unbeaten start through two games.

The Tigers don’t have that luxury this season. Less than five minutes after his team polished off the Ramblers, Jay coach Mark Bonnevie already had his eyes and thoughts on Dirigo. The Tigers host the Cougars tonight at John Taglienti Field.

“We scouted their game against Madison (a 34-7 Dirigo victory), and they’re pretty good,” Bonnevie said. “They have talent, they have a lot of kids, and you can tell that the coaching is there. There’s a lot of structure to what they’re doing.”

In only its second year since splitting from a co-operative effort with Buckfield, Dirigo did nothing last Saturday to make Bonnevie sound like Lou Holtz, glowingly talking up an upcoming, overmatched foe. The Cougars stayed within seven points of reigning Class C champion Lisbon before falling 21-0.

Quiet storm

Mountain Valley fans probably aren’t overly concerned about tonight’s road trip to Gray-New Gloucester, and perhaps rightfully so.

The Falcons have made the playoffs in 16 of the last 17 seasons and won the Class B state championship only two years ago. Not counting a forfeit victory over Poland last season, the upstart Patriots have never won a varsity football game on the field.

Well, it might not be the game of the week, but if you’re in the area, it’s worth a stop to check out Gray-New Gloucester senior tailback Shane Beal. The transfer from South Portland might be the best runner in the state nobody’s heard of. G-NG has scored five touchdowns in its first two games, each coming on a run by Beal.

Beal started his senior season with three scores against Greely, mixing in a 71-yard jaunt with a pair of 2-yard plunges. Last week against York, Beal broke free for TDs of 72 and 12 yards.

He’ll have plenty of competition on the other sideline. Justin Staires, Devin Roberts and the Falcons rolled up 396 yards on the ground in last week’s 48-0 rout of Poland.