LEWISTON – Prior to Thursday afternoon, four games in the Lewiston High School boys’ lacrosse team’s brief history had been played against Portland. Every one of those meetings had resulted in a Bulldogs win, two in nail-biting fashion.

Despite missing two key players, one due to injury and the other for personal reasons, the Blue Devils took a big step forward in the fifth encounter, parlaying goals from six different players into a 9-5 win over Portland at Don Roux Field in the biting wind.

“Anytime we can get a win this early in the season, it’s good for the program,” said Lewiston coach Tom Fournier. “And for it to come against a team we had never beaten was that much better. They got us pretty bad last year, and it was good to see how far this team has come.”

Sean Boulanger and Jon Fournier had two goals and three assists each to lead the Blue Devils’ offensive attack, while Billy Brooks made 15 saves in net to preserve the win.

“We’ve been working on the team approach all season,” said Lewiston’s Steve Cobb. “It showed today that it can work. So many people got into the offense today. You could really see the team concept working.”

It worked right from the beginning. Ben Fournier took a nice feed in front from Boulanger and fired a shot past Portland goalie Peter Sengelmann just 3:27 into the game.

“That was the first time this year, including exhibition games, that we scored the first goal of the game,” said Ben Fournier. “It was important to get the momentum on our side early, especially against Portland.”

Boulanger followed later in the first quarter with his first goal of the afternoon on a shot that looked more like it belonged in a hockey highlight reel.

Evan Cyr took a feed from Boulanger on the right side of the cage and gave it right back to him as he cut through the middle. Boulanger reached to get his stick on it and tipped it in past Sengelmann.

“It really was more of an accident,” admitted Boulanger. “I wasn’t quite expecting the ball so quickly. I went to stab at it and deflected it in.”

Cyr tallied in the early stages of the second quarter to put Lewiston up 3-0, and after Gabe Romano pulled Portland within two at 3-1, the Blue Devils scored four unanswered goals stretching to the middle part of the third quarter to effectively put the game away.

Meanwhile, Brooks was keeping just about every Portland shot from reaching the back of the net.

“They shot a lot of low shots in today,” said Brooks. “Those are usually easier to stop, but with a wet field they bounce funny, so it was pretty tough out there.”

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