BANGOR, Maine — After going 0-4 against teams with a combined 13-3 record, the Lewiston High School football team was looking to break into the win column against 1-3 Bangor at Cameron Stadium on Friday night.
The Blue Devils did so in convincing fashion.
Featuring a stout defense led by defensive end Domonick Colon, inside linebacker Noah Adamson and outside linebackers Tanner Cortes and Dylon Jackson, the Blue Devils limited Bangor to 20 first-half yards and one first down in the first half while building up a three-touchdown lead en route to a 35-0 victory.
Lewiston held Bangor to 83 total yards in the game.
Hunter Landry returned the second-half kickoff 76 yards for a touchdown to sew up the victory and Cortes added a 22-yard interception return with 7.6 seconds left in the third quarter.
Danny May’s 37-yard touchdown run with 5:07 left in the first quarter gave the Blue Devils a lead they would never relinquish. They added two touchdowns in the final 3:10 of the half on quarterback Cortes’ 5-yard run and his 68-yard pass to Lucas Nichols with 22.7 seconds left.
Cortes completed three of four passes for 93 yards in the first half including two to Nichols for 84 yards.
Bangor picked up its only first down of the half on its first series of the game.
The Rams did get the ball at the L 31 early in the second quarter on a Zach Cowperthwaite fumble recovery but two runs each lost two yards and, following an incompletion, the Rams fumbled the ball on fourth down and Colon picked it up and ran it to the Bangor 49.
The opening touchdown was set up by Jaheim Whiting’s 49-yard punt down to Bangor’s 2-yard line.
The Rams wound up punting and the Devils got good field position at the Bangor 38.
Two plays later, May cut off left tackle, sprinted to the outside and darted around a Ram defensive back who had fallen down. He went untouched into the end zone.
The Ram defense did a nice job shutting down the Blue Devils until two costly penalties paved the way for the Blue Devils’ second touchdown.
Lewiston was faced with fourth-and-nine at the Bangor 36-yard line and a pass from Cortes to Dylon Jackson picked up eight yards. But Bangor was called for an illegal use of hands penalty which extended the drive.
A Bangor offsides penalty on a fourth-and-2 at the 10-yard line gave the Blue Devils another first down and Cortes capitalized with his 5-yard TD run.
The Rams had another three-and-out and Lewiston regained possession at its own 25 with 1:44 left in the half.
Facing a third-and-3 at its own 32, Nichols got behind a Ram defensive back down the left side and caught Cortes’ pass in stride en route to the end zone.
Cortes finished the game with five completions in 10 attempts for 131 yards.
May carried the ball 11 times for 46 yards and Landry had 10 carries for 45 yards.
The Bangor defense played well but spent a lot of time on the field due to the offense’s inability to move the ball.
The Rams defense, led by Zach Cowperthwaite, Lucas Bert, Bryce Henaire, Gabe Higgins and Zeb Wilson allowed only 109 rushing yards.
Bangor quarterback Zach Milliken completed 10 of 19 passes for 47 yards. Higgins was Bangor’s leading rusher with 26 yards on nine carries. He also caught three passes for 16 yards.