BANGOR — And you thought fourth-and-a chain link was disastrous.

Lewiston’s freaky football history at Bangor’s Cameron Stadium added another chapter Friday night that the Blue Devils are speechless to explain.

Seven turnovers piggybacked a flurry of first-half penalties and buried the Blue Devils face-first in the weather-beaten turf. Lewiston’s playoff hopes, never brighter than when the Devils were weighed as one of the Pine Tree Conference preseason favorites, are essentially extinguished after a resounding 38-6 defeat.

“That was awful,” Lewiston coach Bill County said. “Obviously we were upset at the officials, and there were some things we didn’t understand that were going on with the men in stripes. But I have no explanation for seven turnovers. Not what we wanted.”

The Blue Devils dropped to 3-4 — unbeaten at home, winless on the road — and would need two wins and an almost unthinkable combination of out-of-town events to have even an outside shot at the fourth and final Eastern Class A playoff invitation.

It’s a grave disappointment for a team that returned eight starters on both sides of the ball after last year’s crushing loss, 25-20, here against Bangor, in last year’s league championship.

Lewiston gambled and went for it on fourth down deep in its own end while leading in the fourth quarter of that one. The Devils supplied the Rams with a short field in more traditional fashion, and much more often, in the encore.

They put the wet ball on the muddy ground eight times, losing five to Bangor (6-1).

Carl Farnham also picked off his opposite number, Devils quarterback Chris Madden, on two occasions.

To say that Bangor operated on a short field is almost laughable. The Rams spent almost the entire game gobbling the inner 30 yards closest to the north end zone.

By the end of the third quarter, that real estate had turned to slop. The other side of midfield looked pristine as the shorter rough surrounding a golf green.

“The whole game,” County lamented. “I can’t imagine their yardage was very much.”

Bangor still flexed its Power-I muscles.

Cody Chapman churned out 20 carries for 136 yards. Chapman scored three touchdowns and was denied a fourth when he was stopped inches shy of the goal line with three seconds remaining in the first half.

“Two officials said I was out of the end zone and one said I was in, so I must have been out,” Chapman said. “You just have to keep going. I have to give it to them. They’re a tough team, but we’re playing pretty well right now.”

Zeb Tuell tacked on 19 carries for 94 yards and two scores.

Tuell also recovered one of the Lewiston fumbles. Ellis Throckmorton pounced on two of them.

“Brunswick gave us six turnovers down there. They dominated the game but gave it to us, because the scoreboard is how they measure it,” Bangor coach Mark Hackett. “Tonight I thought we beat (Lewiston) in more categories than that, but they still helped us.”

Lewiston matched Bangor’s intensity and its opening-drive touchdown. The Devils dominated time of possession, holding the ball for more than nine minutes of the period and keeping the Rams within arm’s length at 7-6.

Tuell finished a six-play march for Bangor with a 4-yard run. Farnham booted the extra point.

The Devils counterpunched by converting three third downs and marching 71 yards in 13 plays, mixing it up with Jeff Turcotte and Joe McKinnon.

McKinnon’s big gainers of 14 and 7 set up a 2-yard drive by Turcotte with 3:25 remaining in the quarter. The PAT veered wide left.

“We had a couple of big penalties on that drive and overcame them,” County said. “It sounds funny now, but at that point I thought we were doing a lot of the things we wanted to offensively.”

Three-and-out on Bangor’s next series gave Lewiston added life. Farnham intercepted a floater in the flat on the opening play of the second quarter.

Lewiston held Bangor on downs, but Justin Scripture scooped up a third-down fumble by Turcotte at the Devils 17. Chapman capped the ensuing short jaunt with a 3-yard TD.

After a Lewiston punt only traveled nine yards — not included in the turnover total, but a reasonable facsimile — Chapman ripped off runs of 20, 4, 2 and 9 yards into the end zone.

“We love the big touchdown runs,” Bangor senior tackle Elijah Hughes, “but it’s the three- and four-yard runs all night that set those up.”

Tuell and Chapman each scored in the third quarter to make it 31-6. Xavier Lewis joined the parade in the fourth.

Turcotte and McKinnon gained 72 yards apiece for Lewiston, which completed only two passes for a net minus-nine yards in the stormy conditions. Turcotte, Kevin St. Pierre and Caleb Johnson were the Devils’ chief tacklers.

koakes@sunjournal.com

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