As a first-year coach taking over a program with a championship pedigree, Lysa Laverdiere knew she had to make her first official pep talk to the Lewiston High School cheerleading squad a great one.
“Look around,” Laverdiere instructed the Blue Devils in November. “This is the team you’re going to win KVACs with. This is the team you’re going to win regionals with. This is the team you’re going to win states with. This is the team you’re going to win New Englands with.”
Bang. Bang. Bang. Boom.
Lewiston finished that grand slam on Saturday afternoon in Lawrence, Mass., collecting its fourth championship in five years at the New England Interscholastic Spirit Championships.
“We swept the whole season,” Laverdiere said. “We went completely undefeated through every competition.”
The Blue Devils won with an impressive 207.4 points on a scale of 220. Fairhaven (Mass.) was second with 199.4.
Because Lewiston had a boy on its team, the Devils competed in the co-ed division for the first time. They dominated the all-girls’ division for large schools in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
“Not knowing how those teams did in the past probably helped us,” senior Olivia Bergeron said. “We didn’t pay attention to it. It was kind of like, ‘Different year, different coach, different division,’ and it all came together.”
Lewiston didn’t have a perfect routine. The Devils dropped one significant stunt early in the three-minute performance and encountered a few less obvious timing and spacing issues.
“I think it was just our energy” that carried the Devils through, Laverdiere said.
Senior Sierra Melanson agreed that the change to a co-ed division was a plus for Lewiston.
“It was best that we didn’t know what we were up against,” Melanson said. “We were just ready to go, leave it all on the mat and put it in the judges’ hands. We knew if we did our job this season that the titles would come.”
Lewiston won the conference, regional and state titles a year ago before finishing second at New Englands.
In February, the Devils won Maine’s Class A title for the fifth time in six years.
“This year’s team was very confident in themselves,” Laverdiere said, “and they never stopped fighting.”
koakes@sunjournal.com
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