LEWISTON – It took just two plays for the Lewiston football team to establish control Friday night, and the Blue Devils never relinquished it.

After Skowhegan fumbled on its first play from scrimmage, Lewiston used its first play to take a quick lead and seize momentum in a convincing 54-26 win over Skowhegan.

“We knew had to come out and punch those guys in the mouth and play football,” said sophomore back Wesley Myers. “That’s the name of the game.

“That started us off really good. Usually we come out and we’re a second half team. So we came out pumped today and took the game over.”

Myers had two early touchdowns as Lewiston built a 21-0 lead. He finished with three scores and 106 yards on 12 carries. Jared Turcotte had four touchdowns and 150 yards rushing on 12 tries. Two of his touchdowns came on defense.

“Skowhegan’s a bit young,” said Lewiston coach Bill County. “So we felt if we could get some momentum and jump on them early, we could put them in a bad position.”

After the Indians (1-2) fumbled the ball away on its first play, Myers scored on a 21-yard scamper on the second play of the game.

“The coach told me that was going to be the first play,” said Myers. “I was just hoping I could score, and I did. I have to thank my teammates on that because the line did some nice blocking.”

Another Skowhegan fumble turned into Lewiston points in a hurry. Turcotte scooped up the ball and rumbled 45 yards for the score.

“We had quite a few mistakes in the first half, and they capitalized on them,” said Skowhegan coach Mike Marston. “They played very well. We would have liked to have played better. We hung in there until the end. My hats off to Lewiston, they outplayed us tonight.”

When Skowhegan failed on a fourth-and-six on its own 39, Lewiston turned that into a 21-0 lead. Myers took it in from the 12 with 4:34 left. It was just the fourth offensive play in the entire game for the Blue Devils.

“He’s a heck of an athlete,” said County of Myers. “We’re trying to establish him as a legitimate threat.”

After a 60-yard Indians’ drive was capped off by a Greg Sadari 6-yard run, Lewiston finished with three touchdowns in the second quarter to build a 34-6 lead.

“The next possession after that drive was very important,” said County. “That was a great drive by them. Suddenly, they’re down by two touchdowns. When we got the ball, we really had to establish something.”

Turcotte raced around the right side on fourth-and-five from the 26 to score with 10:28 left in the half. Mason Giroux then set up another score with a 30-yard pass to Turcotte. Giroux plunged in from the 1 with 6:37 left. Turcotte followed with a 45-yard interception return with 2:09 left.

“He’s playing safety on defense, and he was really putting the pads on people,” said Marston. “He did a nice job.”

Turcotte added a 63-yard run in the third. After Will Clark scored for Skowhegan, Myers added his third of the game with a 6-yarder. Skowhegan got touchdowns from Clay Landry and Matt Dolan in the final quarter.