The festivities surrounding the 161st renewal of the “Battle of the Bridge” begin this morning, when Lewiston and Edward Little meet up on Longley Bridge for a parade that will take the rivals to Walton Field.
The Blue Devils had hoped to continue marching on into the Pine Tree Conference playoffs, but wins by Lawrence and Skowhegan last night snuffed their post-season aspirations. So now Lewiston (4-3), which won last year’s game 34-0 to extend its overall lead in the series to 84-64-12, is playing for pride and bragging rights in the Twin Cities, just like its opponent.
Edward Little (2-5) will also be calling it a season after today. The Red Eddies are coming off their bye week but are dragging to the finish line, having lost five in a row after opening the season with victories over Cony and Lawrence. The roster has been depleted by injuries, disciplinary suspensions and player defections, but Lewiston coach Bill County thinks the Eddies could present his team a tough matchup.
“They’re down a couple of people, but they’ve had two weeks to prepare,” he said. “I think they’re going to try to take away the things we like to do. The speed factor is definitely in Edward Little’s favor.”
What the Blue Devils like to do is hand the ball off to star tailback Jared Turcotte, who has rushed for more than 1,500 yards and 18 touchdowns in just six games. The junior missed one game after injuring his knee in a midseason game against Skowhegan, but showed last week after rushing for 334 yards and a season-high five touchdowns against Brunswick, that he’s getting closer to 100 percent.
“He’s probably one of the best backs in the whole state,” said EL coach Jim Hersom, whose defense yielded 125 rushing yards to Turcotte last year. “We saw him live for the first time this year last week and he’s deceptively fast. He’s going to be a load to contend with, and I think our kids are up to the challenge. The key is to get to him before he gets started.”
The Eddies should have the speed to meet Turcotte at the point of attack, but they may be surprised by the strength the 6-foot-1, 215-pound back possesses.
“I think Jared’s got a little more power than most of the kids with his kind of speed,” County said. “He can turn the corner on you or he can run through you, and I think the advantage we have is Jared can play both games pretty well.”
The Devils got a big boost last week when their second biggest threat, senior QB Chris Ford, returned from his own knee woes.
“He just adds leadership and knowledge to our offense,” County said.
EL has added balance to its offense over the last few weeks. Junior QB Troy Barnies has been steadily improving, and the return of junior tailback Jon Demers, who has missed the last three games with a knee injury, will add another dimension to the offense. But County’s biggest concern is senior fullback Garner LaValley.
“He has tremendous speed,” he said. “They like to spread the field out and run the fullback trap with him. He’s extremely dangerous.”
“We’ve been pretty successful moving the ball this year,” Hersom said. “Troy Barnies has really come on the last two or three games. Garner’s running tough, and with Jon back, we feel like we should be able to do some things against their defense.”
Comments are no longer available on this story