LEWISTON – It was an idea Mike McGraw had stored away for future use.

A preseason trial experiment of moving Husayne Carnegie back to defense was effective. So McGraw stowed that strategy in the back of his mind. Little did he know how soon it would be needed.

“I thought, ‘I’m filing this one away because when we get to the playoffs, it will be a good idea,'” he said. “It didn’t take too long after having 11 goals scored against us that putting him out back was a good deal.”

It was a move born out of necessity. Mt. Ararat had beaten them 6-0. Then Edward Little outgunned them 5-3.

“It’s been an interesting change because my whole high school career has been in the midfield or up top, but it’s a position I’m comfortable with,” said Carnegie. “I’ve played sweeper with my club team. We have an extremely strong defense. We communicate well together. We work well together. So it’s not an area that there’s awkwardness or discomfort. We’ve meshed really well, and I think it was a change that was necessary.

“It’s fun to score goals and get glory, but you won’t win a game without a solid defense.”

Carnegie has played sweeper for a club team since he was in elementary school, but he’d always been an offensive force for the Blue Devils, earning All-State honors last year.

Moving him back to defense became a possibility in a preseason game against Brunswick.

“I think they walked in and within 11 seconds they scored a goal,” said McGraw. “Then all of a sudden it was 3-0. Husayne came to me halfway through and says ‘Coach let me try sweeper, because that’s probably where I’m going to play in college.’ When he was out there, everything calmed down.”

Though Lewiston has capable veteran defenders, the Blue Devils struggled as a group. One-on-one there was little problem, but if a team had a rush of attackers, it wasn’t too hard to get the Blue Devils scrambling out of position and create seams to exploit. Carnegie brought experience and leadership, and Lewiston began to settle into its more tradition style game.

“Our biggest change came just from organization,” said Carnegie. “We were never able to play under control before. It was a very frantically paced game. With every possession, we’d always push forward to try to score. We never really got into a rhythm.”

With Carnegie at sweeper, it allowed Eric Waite to shut down the right side, while Corey Chamberlain locked down the left. Zach Godbout was given more freedom to mark up opponents, while Jonathan Paradis and Mike Archibald provided a defensive presence in the midfield.

“We were playing with a solid core of guys,” said McGraw, whose team lost to Brunswick 1-0 soon after the switch. “We played a very good game against Brunswick doing it that way. After that, I figured that’d be a good lineup to go against some good clubs.”

A tie with Oxford Hills and a 3-1 loss at Cony shook the confidence, but McGraw sat his team down and spelled out their roles and what needed to be done.

“Husayne was instrumental,” said McGraw. “He’s a calming influence and rallies everyone else to have a little more freedom in their play. It began to flow and we started to get some continuity.”

Moving one of the team’s most skilled offensive threats to the backfield had its downside, but rather than pressing frantically for offense, Lewiston has developed a methodical approach.

“We had to work on capitalizing and finishing,” said Carnegie. “So even though we were getting less chances, the ones we were getting, we were finishing.”

Lewiston managed a 1-0 victory over Edward Little and tied Mt. Ararat to help earn enough points for a playoff berth. Lewiston isn’t without offensive talent. Mike Sarrazin, Hossain Naji, Shirwac Hussain Ali, Shirmarke Hussain Ali all help give some spark up front.

“Since then, we’ve played very well defensively,” said McGraw. “Keenan (White) has played very well in the goal and the other players have started to pick up confidence that when they need a goal, they find a goal.”

Because of the lineup change, the Blue Devils have still yet to show their full potential, something they could do if they hang around the postseason long enough.

“Instead of sneaking into the playoffs unsure of ourselves, we’re now going in with a lot more self confidence,” said Carnegie.