Meet “Speedy.” And after watching him zip up and down the soccer field, it doesn’t take long to figure out how he earned the name.

“All my friends call me Speedy,” Mohamed said. “My mom calls me Speedy. I’m Hassan no more. Everybody calls me Speedy.”

He’s been an exciting — and integral — part of Lewiston’s Eastern Class A championship soccer team and the Devils’ sparkling 16-0-1 record. The team plays for its first state championship at 3 p.m. Saturday at Hampden Academy.

Mohamed earned the name early in his Lewiston sports career, as an eighth-grader on the boys’ basketball team, and he’s since lived up to it in both soccer and track and field.

“I try a lot of sports,” Mohamed said. “I love sports. I love to try new things. Training is like learning new things.”

He was a Class A state champion sprinter in outdoor track and field last spring. He won the 100-meter dash in 11.36 seconds. He was on the 4×100-meter relay team that took second place, and at the indoor track and field state meet he was second in the 55- and 200-meter dashes.

He brings more to the soccer field than speed. He’s an athletic bundle of energy, making things happen on the perimeter. He’s fun to watch — unless you’re a defender and he’s flying past you in an instant.

“He’s not polished,” Lewiston coach Mike McGraw said. “He’s pure intensity. What he does for us, he just helps us by increasing that side of the game. If he can get a good foot on it, he’ll give us a good cross.

“He’s also expanded his game in that he can take the ball to the middle and find an open man, too. When he is on, we can attack. It’s up to the guys to find that right spot to use him.”

Mohamed has contributed heavily to Lewiston’s unbeaten season and its run through the Eastern A playoffs. In a late season win over an undefeated Bangor squad, Mohamed helped set up the game-winner in a 2-1 victory. His rush down the wing led to a cross that Abdi Shariff finished in front.

Against Mt. Blue in the teams’ Eastern A quarterfinal, he made a similar play to put the ball in front of the net, where Abdulkarim Abdulle touched it in for a goal.

He nearly scored in the semifinal rematch against Bangor, and made some nice runs. Then, he set up the game-winner Wednesday in the Eastern A final against Brunswick. After Abdulle had put Lewiston on the board early in the second half, Mohamed made a rush on the wing and put a shot on net 27 seconds later. The keeper couldn’t control it, and Abdulle was there to put in the rebound.

“When we use him the right way, he’s very effective,” McGraw said. “He adds an element that our opponents have to defend. If they don’t defend, that’s what’s going to happen. When they do defend him, that just opens things up in the middle. I just believe he’s a weapon. They close that door and another one opens.”

Of course, defending Mohamed isn’t so easy. With or without the ball, it only takes him an instant to get by a defender. That often gives him space to make something happen on the outside.

“You put the ball in front of me and I’m gone,” Mohamed said.

He runs effortlessly. He can roam well over to the other side of the field and make a play and then scoot back into position. At half speed, he’s still as quick as anyone else.

“I can’t stay in one spot,” Mohamed said. “I just want to be all over the place.”

His presence has also helped the Blue Devils defensively. He’s able to get back quickly and support the back line but still able to make a rush up front.

Mohamed arrived in Lewiston in 2008 from Chicago. He’s been playing soccer since he was young, encouraged by numerous uncles who loved the sport.

McGraw remembered first seeing Mohamed as a young basketball player.

“I remember running a basketball camp, and at one session for boys and girls, he showed up in the summer,” McGraw said. “He could almost touch the rim when he was in sixth grade.”

Though he’s also had a significant impact on the track and field teams at Lewiston, he’s making at least as big a splash with the Blue Devils’ soccer team. His energy and intensity fuels the rest of the squad. He’s developed a way to use his speed and make something happen.

“I’ve improved myself,” Mohamed said. “I’ve gotten better and better every year. I pushed to the limits.”

kmills@sunjournal.com

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