ORONO – The best football players are instinctive, so it’s just as well that the University of Maine’s Jordan Stevens and Jared Turcotte didn’t have much warning before their recent dates with the spotlight.

Stevens probably thought his days of barreling into the end zone were complete when his tenure ended as a running back and inner receiver at Mt. Blue High School.

Tough to calculate what looked larger, then – the pupils behind Stevens’ facemask, or the football at his feet – when Jovan Belcher and Brandon McLaughlin jimmied the ball away from quarterback Robby Schoenhoft of nationally ranked Delaware and left Stevens with an eyeful of greenery.

“Jovan and Brandon got in there and caused the fumble,” Stevens said, a 242-pound junior defensive end from Temple. “It was right there, so I just picked it up and ran. There wasn’t much to it.”

Stevens’ first collegiate touchdown with 1:29 remaining applied the exclamation point to a 27-10 road victory, one that improved Maine to 3-3 headed into this Saturday’s crossroads game at Alfond Stadium against Hofstra.

Earlier in the week, Maine coach Jack Cosgrove cautioned an out-of-town broadcasting crew enamored with Buck Buchanan Award candidate Belcher to keep at least one eye on the emerging Stevens.

“It was like, justice is served. Jordan just had a sack the play before,” Cosgrove said. “It was really good to see that. Jordan does all the dirty work for us so that Belcher can do what he does. Jordan’s at the point of attack all the time. Jordan doesn’t get the stats. He’ll get those next year.”

Stevens wasn’t the only homegrown standout to score his first Black Bears touchdown in the victory over last year’s Football Championship Subdivision runner-up.

On the heels of his Colonial Athletic Association rookie of the week honor two weeks earlier against James Madison, Turcotte barreled in from 4 yards out to tie the game in the final minute of the first half.

Maine faced third-and-goal and projected that Delaware would be expecting a pass. The Blue Hens snuffed out the run, however, leaving the Lewiston High School product to apply the natural skills that made him Maine’s top high school football player in 2006.

“He runs angry,” Cosgrove said of Turcotte. “Jared took the three yards that the line could get for him and then sort of corkscrewed himself into the end zone.”

The opportunity to carry the ball throughout a pivotal stretch of Maine’s CAA schedule is a pleasant surprise for Turcotte, who has been used primarily as a blocker and secondary receiver.

He’s still listed on Maine’s roster as an H-back, a hybrid of a fullback and tight end popularized by the Washington Redskins in the 1980s. He bulked up accordingly to 232 pounds while sitting out 2007 as a red shirt.

“Everybody wants to touch the ball. I’m glad they’ve given me an opportunity to run with it and get a couple carries here and there,” Turcotte said. “What stuck in my head wasn’t the touchdown, it was the fumble late in the fourth quarter. That’s the first fumble we’ve had as a team this year.”

Turcotte and classmate Derek Session took over as Maine’s primary ball carriers due to senior Jhamal Fluellen’s injury.

Fluellen rushed for 341 yards in three starts. Together, Turcotte and Session have averaged 5.5 yards per touch in his absence.

“We’ve got a whole bunch of seniors that don’t care that they’re freshmen,” said Cosgrove. “They want them to produce so they can win.”

Knee injuries have nagged Turcotte throughout his short time at Maine. He practiced only once in the week leading up to James Madison, a game in which he rushed 12 times for 84 yards.

While he knows that he may be auditioning for a role as Maine’s every-down back beginning next year, Turcotte understands his primary role as Fluellen’s understudy.

“It’s a lot more blocking than I ever did in high school,” Turcotte said. “Here everybody is bigger, stronger and faster than you are, so you’ve got to use technique and leverage to get the job done.”

Stevens has handled his switch from linebacker to end without any dip in production, logging 23 tackles and 1 sacks.

“I’m still learning a lot playing defensive end, trying to get better, trying to get comfortable,” Stevens said. “There’s not much room for error on the line.”

Not that the second-year starter makes many miscues.

“He excels at everything. He walks around excelling,” Cosgrove said. “We came up with the saying here, ‘Play forever.’ Jordan plays forever. You can’t ask for more than what he gives you. Guys like him help you have more guys like that.”