Porter got that opportunity in overtime against Oxford Hills on Friday night.

Porter was given the ball on the second play and came across with the winning touchdown, hand delivering the Blue Devils an 8-0 victory at Gouin Athletic Complex.

But the Blue Devils weren’t taking any chances on a scrappy Oxford Hills team. Lewiston faked the extra point and Brock Belanger flipped a short pass to Desmond Jackson waiting in the end zone for the two-point conversion.

After that it was Oxford Hills’ turn, but the Vikings fumbled on the first play and Lewiston recovered the ball in a game that featured more stop-and-go action than the recent Labor Day traffic on the Maine Turnpike.

“That was the plan from the start of the game,” Jackson said. “It felt great. Just won the game on our defense, got a shutout. It felt great.”

“I felt great. Oh my god, I was fired up,” Porter said. “I wasn’t quitting and you know, our team just wanted it, just wanted it more than the other team.

“So we went out there and got it. I ran it right in.”

There were 14 fumbles in the game, a couple of pass interference calls and plenty of penalties that helped stifle both teams on the ground and in the air, leading to four scoreless quarters.

“I didn’t think it would be in overtime, but we were going for that from the get-go, Lewiston coach Bruce Nicholas said. “A lot of turnovers, a lot of back and forth. I got a lot of young guys, even some of my seniors, that haven’t played a whole lot of minutes.

“We grew tonight. We need it tonight. Our program needed a win. I think we are pretty good. We got some teams that are coming up that are pretty good, but we took a step tonight.”

Nicholas is no stranger to coaching teams in overtime.

“The last time I was here as an Edward Little coach, it went five overtimes, and we pulled it off,” Nicholas said. “I love it. It was great (winning in overtime).”

Oxford Hills had plenty of opportunities to score, but the Vikes committed 10 fumbles and lost the ball four times, including one in overtime.

“Yeah, it’s a tough one. Just too many mistakes, too many mistakes,” Oxford Hills coach Mark Soehren. “Just as a team we just made too many silly mistakes.

“I should have kicked a field goal in that first drive. Of course after that first drive, I thought we moved the ball pretty well and we could. It’s just that you just don’t expect that many turnovers.”

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