Football: Blue Devils don’t give in, rally, then hold off Rams

LEWISTON — Two plays, one at the end of each half, summed up Lewiston’s effort in Friday night’s thrilling 32-27 win over Bangor at Don Roux Field.

On both, Lewiston’s secondary was beaten for an apparent touchdown pass. But the Blue Devils never gave up on the play and ended up forcing turnovers that preserved the lead in the first half and the game in the second half.

The Blue Devils didn’t give up after falling behind 14-0 early in the second quarter, either.

Boosted by five turnovers forced by the defense (two fumbles, three interceptions), the offense scored 32 unanswered points. Bangor showed some fight of its own by rallying for a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter. But the Devils’ defense responded with a fumble recovery in the end zone by Jaiden Caron and an interception by Dylon Jackson on the Rams’ final two possessions to seal it.

“(Trailing early), that’s where we need to find it in our hearts, come together as a team and keep going,” said Lewiston’s Deon Hunt, a junior tight end/defensive end.

“It shows the work that we put in all summer, the weight room hours and everything,” Caron said. “We showed that we all had heart and we could do it.”

Bangor (1-1) sophomore quarterback Max Clark and his receivers carved up Lewiston with slant routs to take the early lead. Clark (21-for-35, 253 yards, four touchdowns, three interceptions) connected with Eli Bradford on one for a 43-yard touchdown 51 seconds into the second quarter to make it 7-0.

After Colton Trisch’s interception set up Bangor at Lewiston’s 28, Bradford tipped Clark’s pass into the end zone to tight end Colton Emerson for a 5-yard TD that increased the lead to 14-0.

Limited to minus-5 total yards in the first quarter, the Blue Devils (1-1) started gaining steam after off-setting penalties negated a Nick Fournier interception that would have given Bangor the ball back.

“We had that roughing the passer … We had momentum. It was 14-0,” Bangor coach David Morris said. “We had good field position at that point. We’ve got a young football team. They’re trying hard. They make mistakes. We were hoping for something to bounce our way but we didn’t have that big play.”

Instead, Lewiston quarterback Kameron Caron converted a fourth-and-1 pass to keep the drive alive, then called his own number for a 5-yard touchdown run up the middle with 5:16 left in the half.

Lewiston’s Evan Williams picked off Clark near midfield on Bangor’s next drive and ran it back to the Bangor 33. Four plays later, Kameron Caron found his tight end, Hunt, in the end zone from 5 yards out. Lewiston’s try for the two-point conversion fell incomplete, keeping Bangor in front, 14-12.

Lewiston’s defense tightened up and forced a 12-yard punt to Bangor’s 23. Lewiston needed just three plays to score after that as Caron’s 8-yard touchdown run, bouncing off a couple of tacklers, put them in front, following his two-point pass to Hunt, 20-14, with 1:07 left in the half.

Bangor appeared to have the answer when Clark found Keegan Cyr behind the secondary near midfield. Cyr sprinted down the Rams’ sideline and appeared headed for the end zone before he was chased down from behind and the ball knocked out of his grasp. It rolled about 15 yards out of the back of the end zone, which is ruled a touchback with Lewiston awarded possession.

After the defense stopped Bangor just past midfield on its first drive, Lewiston put together its best drive of the night on its first possession of the second half. Kameron Caron (72 yards and two TDs rushing, 99 and two TDs passing) led the Devils on a 13-play, 77-yard drive, converting on fourth-and-2 to Williams to move the chains before running it in himself from 5 yards out for a 26-14 lead with 3:15 remaining in the third.

“Tonight, we just made a couple of subtle adjustments up front, scheme-wise, to put us in a better situation,” Lewiston coach Darren Hartley said. “That third quarter drive was just absolutely simple, correct and routine-assignment football. I’m so excited for my (coaching) staff and the kids to execute and kind of put the foot down there and get some confidence.”

Jaiden Caron outfought a Bangor receiver for an interception near midfield to set up Lewiston’s final score, a 56-yard slant pass over the middle to Williams, who outraced the secondary for the scored that put the Devils up 32-14 with one minute to go in the third.

Clark threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Cyr and a 6-yard scoring pass to Joey Morrison to pull the Rams within five with 4:36 remaining.

Bangor held Lewiston without a first down the rest of the way to give itself two cracks at taking the lead. Bradford held off Jaiden Caron, who is nearly a foot shorter than him, and came back to catch Clark’s pass. He turned and lunged for the goal-line but was hit by Jackson and lost the ball. Jaiden Caron was the first to the ball as it rolled into the end zone, and he recovered it for a touchback with 2:05 remaining.

“I just tried to keep him in front of me and did the best that I could,” Caron said. “The ball came out, I saw it, got the opportunity and I jumped on it.”

A short Lewiston punt gave the Rams one last chance at Lewiston’s 45 with a little over a minute left, but Jackson picked off Clark’s first-down pass to preserve the win.