SOUTH PARIS – As Mason Giroux perused his options, he found exactly what he was looking for.

There was Lewiston back Jared Turcotte isolated on one lone defender, much smaller than the standout Blue Devil. Giroux threw the pass. Turcotte made the reception and burned the lone tackler for a 55-yard touchdown play with just 37 seconds left in the first half Saturday. It doubled Lewiston’s lead and sent the Blue Devils on their way to a 34-0 victory over Oxford Hills.

“It was (second-and-nine) and time was running out,” said Lewiston coach Bill County. Jared’s our best athlete. So it was let’s throw it out there and see what he can do with it.”

Turcotte did it all for the Blue Devils, rushing for 203 yards and scoring four touchdowns to give Lewiston (4-2) its second straight win.

“After the bye week, we started turning things around,” said Giroux. “We realized we had to step it up in the second half of the season. We feel like we’re in good shape now.”

Oxford Hills (0-6) stayed within reach of Lewiston for much of the first half. Lewiston had 205 total yards but had scored just once on a 19-yard Turcotte touchdown on their opening drive.

“I thought for the first half we contained not only Turcotte but also their other running backs,” said Oxford Hills coach Bob Austin. “Obviously we worked on that all week. That’s what has hurt us all year, stopping the run. To be able to stop the run as well as we did in the first half was a big plus.”

Turcotte rushed for 126 of Lewiston 205 total yards in the first half. The passing game had just five yards. After a defensive stop, Oxford Hills couldn’t get a drive going to finish off the half. Lewiston, up 7-0, took over in the final minute. On second-and-nine from the 45, Giroux hit Turcotte at the right sideline. With just one defender on him, he caught the ball and easily shunned the tackler for the 55-yard game-breaker and 13-0 lead.

“We needed to score and get up by two instead of having that one touchdown,” said Giroux. “We thought we’d have Turcotte go out wide and just loft it and see if he could catch it.”

Lewiston kept its momentum going in the second half on its first possession. The Blue Devils marched 75 yards and made it 20-0 with 8:35 left when Turcotte burst through the left side for a 42-yard run.

“We made some changes at halftime in the line and our schemes,” said Giroux. “We came out and it worked. We felt like the game was ours, but we kept pushing.”

It made for too big a hill for the Vikings’ offense to climb. Oxford Hills managed just seven first downs to Lewiston’s 20. The Vikings also produced just 152 total yards.

“There were some first downs which were concerning for us,” said County. “Every drive they had the ball, it seemed like they were making a couple of first downs, but we did a really good job of not letting them break anything big.”

The Vikings were plagued by bad snaps, an interception and penalties that squelched any momentum they mustered.

“There were mistakes again,” said Austin. “There were penalties, interceptions, fumbles. We showed we could move the ball, but we have to concentrate more and be able to finish drives.”

Turcotte added a 12-yard run for a touchdown with 20 seconds left in the third quarter. Wesley Myers took it in from 11 yards late in the fourth.

“Obviously the next two weeks are enormous for us,” said County. “Brunswick is a quality team. They did well last night, especially defensively, against the Eddies.

“EL only has three losses and is fighting for their lives for a possible playoff spot. It gets interesting. When we lost our second game, we really believed it was the playoffs for the rest of the year. We’re not sure three losses will get us in. So we’re trying to play in a panic.”