LEWISTON – Lewiston’s defense had spent so much time on the field, it wasn’t going to let Bangor make its long night even longer.

Protecting an eight-point lead with under a minute left, the third-seeded Blue Devils turned aside No. 6 Bangor at their own 10 and finally ended their playoff jinx against the Rams with a 34-26 victory in the Pine Tree Conference quarterfinals at Don Roux Field Saturday night.

The result sets up a rematch between rivals Lewiston and Edward Little in the semifinals at 3 p.m. next Saturday at Walton Field. EL won the first Battle of the Bridge last Saturday, 19-12.

Ronnie Turner threw for two touchdowns and ran for another to lead Lewiston. Wesley Myers (20 carries, 106 yards) rushed for a touchdown and returned a kickoff for a score. The big plays by both Blue Devils were crucial, as Bangor outgained Lewiston, 442-230, and held the ball for nearly 30 minutes.

“I know personally my coach (Bill County) was up last night worrying about this,” Myers said.

“Coach always says that they knock us out every year, so this was one of his things to do before he dies, beat Bangor in the playoffs,” Turner said.

The Devils didn’t fulfill County’s bucket list until Bangor’s final drive. The Rams took over at their own 34 with 4:08 left and immediately got a free five yards due to an illegal substitution penalty on Lewiston. Tyler Pembroke made a leaping catch of a Joe Seccareccia pass on 4th-and-15 to keep the drive alive.

Five plays later, the Rams had 1st-and-goal at the Lewiston 7. Seccareccia’s first down pass intended for Josiah Hartley sailed out of the back of the end zone. On second down, Jeff Keene and Peter Blais teamed up to chase Bangor work horse Lonnie Hackett (33 carries, 167 yards, TD) out of bounds for a six-yard loss. Seccareccia hooked up with Hartley for a three-yard gain on third down, but his fade pass into the end zone on fourth down went through the hands of a leaping Nate Henigan with 28 seconds left.

“There were a couple of times there where I thought we might break but we didn’t. These kids played like they should in the playoffs, with a little bit of panic towards the end,” said County, whose Devils were 0-4 against Bangor in the playoffs since 2001. “It’s nice to beat them in a playoff game. They’ve ended my season so many times, it’d become routine.”

The Blue Devils (8-1) started off each half strong, then watched the Rams (3-6) slowly deflate them with long drives to get back in the game. Myers set the big-play ton by answering a Bangor touchdown on the game’s opening drive with a 79-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

“I felt the vibe of number five in my body. I felt the vibe,” Myers said. “Before I came here, I watched the Eddies and got pumped. I knew we needed to get it done.”

Lewiston took advantage of good starting field position to build upon its lead. Starting at the Bangor 42, the Devils took nine plays to make it 14-6 on Cody Dussault’s one-yard plunge late in the first quarter. They started their next drive at the Rams’ 34. On first down from the 23, Keene ran on a sweep left, spun out of a tackle, reversed field and raced to the right for a 15-yard gain. Turner then snuck it in on 4th-and-goal from a yard out to make it 20-6 with eight minutes remaining in the half.

Bangor stormed back with touchdown drives on its final two possessions of the half to tie it. Seccareccia capped the first with a four-yard bootleg and completed the second with a 20-yard TD pass over the middle to Henigan on 4th-and-8.

“I think we were excited and maybe we got a little over-excited, I don’t know,” County said. “There were times where I thought we were a little bit, I don’t know, tired or slow, not quite where I want us to be. On the other hand, we threw up 34 points.”

“I’m proud of my team for fighting,” Bangor coach Mark Hackett said. “We could have just folded up the tent and let them be up by 20 or 30 points, but we kept giving ourselves a chance to win the game.”

The Blue Devils immediately seized the momentum again to open the second half when Turner connected with Chuck Faletra on a 57-yard touchdown pass down the left sideline to put them ahead for good.

“We went in the locker room and Chuck said he had him on post corner, so I just said ‘OK, do it to him.”” Turner said. “Let him make a play. He’s a great athlete.”

Turner made it 34-20 late in the third quarter with an outstanding 22-yard TD run where he broke two tackles inside the 10 before driving into the end zone.

Bangor went on its shortest scoring drive of the night in terms of plays – seven – to march 81 yards and pull within 34-26 on a two-yard TD run by Adam Billings (21 carries, 86 yards) early in the fourth quarter.