LEWISTON — From the takeaways to the sacks to the constant pressure, it’s obvious this isn’t your big brother’s or dad’s Bates College defense. Maybe not even your grandfather’s.

Bates didn’t look at its 28-9 trouncing of Tufts at Garcelon Field as any sort of catharsis or taking out years’ worth of frustration. The Bobcats believe what everybody saw on this misty Saturday is what they’re going to get.

“That’s the first convincing win I’ve had at Bates,” senior linebacker Brett McAllister said. “We went out there and we pretty much dominated that game.”

McAllister, who’s a hybrid of a linebacker and safety with a defensive end’s pass rushing sensibilities in Bates’ tenacious 3-5 attack, picked off Tufts quarterback Johnny Lindquist twice and threw him for a loss two more times. He also chalked up two of Bates’ seven pass breakups.

Kyle Starr and Andrew Kukesh each added an interception for Bates, which matched last week’s effort in a 20-7 loss to Amherst by feasting on four turnovers.

Lindquist was sacked six times in all, with Kevin Helm, Will Taft, Cam Evans and Matt Gaither all taking a turn driving him to the turf.

“My years here, we haven’t really had that happen,” Evans said. “It feels great, and hopefully it continues.”

It was the lowest point total allowed by Bates (1-1) in five years and the Bobcats’ biggest margin of victory since 2004.

Bates’ offense and defense enjoyed a symbiotic relationship all day long.

The Bobcats’ triple-option clicked on a six-play scoring drive after the opening kickoff and never stopped grinding.

Trevor Smith (17-for-24, 122 yards) hit Ryan Curit of South Portland (12 touches, 87 all-purpose yards) for the 16-yard score.

Bates continued to dominate field position thanks to a coffin-corner punt by Evan Dowd and the first of multiple three-and-outs by the Bobcats defense. The end results were a short field and a 13-yard TD run by Smith for a 13-0 lead with 2:50 remaining in the opening quarter.

“Getting a lead like that, it just lets you pin your ears back more on defense and come harder on blitzes,” McAllister said. “We were firing on all cylinders.”

One sluggish second-quarter sequence was the only brief chance for Bates to be haunted by demons of the past.

The Bobcats pushed inside the 1-yard line and threatened to make it a three-touchdown lead. A false start on fourth-and-inches ushered Bates back to the 6. That led to a short field goal attempt, and Charlie Donahue pushed it wide left.

Tufts (0-2) took over at the 20 and quickly marched to the Bates 10, but Taft decked Ryan Pollock for a one-yard loss on first down. After two incomplete passes by Lindquist, Adam Auerbach split the uprights from 28 yards to get the Jumbos on the board.

Bates answered immediately with a drive that featured heavy doses of Smith’s feet and his arm, capped by Tom Finkenstaedt’s terrific over-the-shoulder, 23-yard catch in the end zone with 1:34 left.

Patrick George leaped over the pile for the two-point conversion and a 21-3 halftime lead.

“In order to continue to be successful, we have to be able to close it out and do the things that good teams do,” Bates coach Mark Harriman said. “We haven’t been here a whole lot, but we plan to be.”

McAllister’s second interception set up a six-minute grind that put it away. George gobbled up the final yard with 2:09 to go in the third.

George and Smith each logged 22 carries for nearly identical totals of 84 and 83 yards, respectively.

“We talked about that all week, the first drive just scoring and then not letting up from there but keep pounding it,” George said. “We wanted to make a statement to the league. Last week we let one get away. We wanted to keep scoring until the coaches took us out.”

By contrast, Bates bottled up Tufts to the tune of 25 carries for 18 net yards. The sacks applied a minus-38 to that total.

“That’s what we key on. We don’t want anybody to be able to relax back there,” Evans said. “We want him to get rid of the ball quick. Short passes, we’ll give those up. We don’t want those deep balls down the field.”

Tufts, which had a 24-game winning streak against Bates snapped last year on its home field, landed its only touchdown on a 1-yard Pollock plunge in the fourth.

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