LEWISTON – Jeff Keene ran for two touchdowns and came up with a pair of interceptions and a fumble recovery as fourth-seeded Lewiston scored on its first three possessions of the second half to break open a scoreless game and knock off No. 8 Brunswick 20-7 in an Eastern Class A football semifinal Saturday.

The Blue Devils (8-2) advance to the regional final against Bangor. The Rams (9-1) advanced Friday night with a 22-12 win over Mt. Blue (7-3).

After being held to just 108 yards in the opening half by the Dragons, the No. 4 Blue Devils (8-2) took the second-half kickoff and kept the ball for 5:08, marching 80 yards in 10 plays, all on the ground, to score the game’s first touchdown.

The first eight runs were straight ahead, four in succession by Joe McKinnon, until quarterback Chris Madden swept around the left side for nine yards, and Keene went around the left side on the next play for the final 25. Tom Hird’s kick made it 7-0.

“We made some adjustments at halftime,” said Lewiston Coach Bill County, “and took care of some mistakes we’d made earlier. The power running game is what we do, and we just stayed with it.”

Keene recovered a Dragon fumble on the next possession to give the Blue Devils the ball at the Brunswick 35. One play and a personal foul later, Madden hit Cody Dussault alone in the right flat for a 20-yard scoring pass to give Lewiston a 13-0 lead.

Brunswick Coach Dan Cooper ordered his players to, “Give me four quarters. Don’t hang your heads.” But after a Dragon punt, Lewiston took over on its 24 and went the distance in 13 plays, the final one a 5-yard sweep around the right side by Keene. Hird followed with the extra point to make it 20-0.

Brunswick (6-4) got on the board when quarterback Kyle Franklin went over from the 1 to cap an 11-play, 67-yard drive with 2:11 remaining.

Keene was a major factor on defense in the opening half, first catching Jordan Rysdam from behind after Rysdam had gone down the right side for 50 yards with no one in front of him.

Keene hurt his ribs on the play but stayed in the game and intercepted Ezra Drehobl’s passes on consecutive Brunswick possessions.

“I actually hurt the ribs a couple of weeks ago,” said Keene. “But after that tackle, I really couldn’t catch my breath until I could rest at halftime. It was definitely my best game of the year, and as a senior, you don’t want to end your season with a loss on your home field.”

“(Lewiston) came out great in the third quarter,” Cooper said. “They were very physical on their first drive, and on the second we kind of lost our discipline and composure a little. But give Lewiston credit for the way they came at us. I thought we were the better team in the first half, and I’m pretty proud of my kids.”