BRUNSWICK – What the Lewiston High School line lacked in size and experience, they made up for with gritty, hard-nosed play.

And what the Blue Devils lacked in offense Friday night – they rushed for just 105 yards – they more than made up for on defense and special teams.

A key punt return by feature back Wesley Meyers and a pair of interceptions returned for touchdowns – one each from Tyler Lussier and Jeff Keene – highlighted an opportunity-driven second half for Lewiston, which came away from a tough Week 1 test at Brunswick with a 26-6 victory over the Dragons.

“That’s how we called it at halftime,” Lewiston head coach Bill County joked. “We said, ‘Let’s just pick a couple off and run them back and score.’ That was part of the chalk talk, of course.”

Brunswick was its own worst enemy in the second half, after keeping things even through two quarters. The Dragons went three-and-out on their first possession of the second half and tried to punt the ball away from Meyers and out of bounds.

Instead, the Lewiston senior returned the kick 42 yards to the Brunswick 22, setting up the Blue Devils’ go-ahead score.

“We were definitely trying to avoid kicking to him,” Brunswick coach Dan Cooper said.

On its next series, after gaining a first down, Brunswick quarterback Stephan Jensen, threw the ball through the hands of his intended target. Lussier grabbed the ball in mid-air – his second pick of the night – and scampered 57 yards through three would-be tacklers to put Lewiston ahead, with the two-point conversion, 20-6.

“I didn’t expect to run so much on defense,” Lussier said. “We practiced all week for the Wing-T, and they come out with twins to the left side. We switched up, and I knew they have some athletes who can run, so I dropped back, gave the a cushion, waited for the ball to get in the air and made the play.”

On its next series, Brunswick quarterback Robbie Basquez crossed the goal line after evading numerous tackles and scampering 46 yards on a broken pass play, but that was called back on a holding penalty, one of nine infractions the Dragons committed on the night, costing them 68 yards and invaluable momentum.

“I thought the way we finished the (first) half strong, I felt we could physically run the ball against those guys,” Cooper said. “One little mistake led to another. We got on our heels a bit.”

After stuffing Lewiston again, Brunswick drove again to midfield, where Keene swiped a Jensen pass into the right flat and legged out a 55-yard return, beating Jensen to the goal line to seal the game.

“With the success we had with the DBs, it helped (the line) to play better, gain some confidence,” Lussier said.

Brunswick’s final gasp ended with a lost fumble with 5:46 to play.

Lewiston went ahead after recovering a fumble at the Brunswick 25-yard line on a 23-yard pass from Ronnie Turner to Charles Faletra into the left corner of the end zone.

Brunswick evened things up in the second quarter with a solid drive featuring running back Shaun Tanner (21 rushes, 117 yards).