LEWISTON
Lewiston High School and its coaches knew Brunswick’s Jared Jensen was good. His 711 yards and nine touchdowns over the first two games of the season more than spoke to that.
And the Blue Devils were ready for him.
But, it hardly mattered.
Jensen raced for 254 yards and three touchdowns in three quarters of work, and quarterback Jason Carter ran for two TDs and passed for another as the Dragons torched the Blue Devils, 57-21 Friday at Don Roux Field.
“We knew he was good,” Lewiston coach Bill County said of Jensen. “He’s special. On the first play, I thought we played it pretty well on the front side, and he cut back to where we weren’t. That’s just a great running back with great vision.”
“We knew he’d be good, I didn’t think he’d have this kind of start,” Brunswick coach Dan Cooper said. “A lot of that has to do with the line play. They’ve been fantastic.”
Jensen’s big night started quickly, and his services were immediately necessary. The Blue Devils’ Quintarian Brown returned the opening kickoff 89 yards for a score to put Lewiston in front 15 seconds into the contest, putting the Dragons (3-0) in a quick hole.
“We’ve been down before. Our kids can come back pretty good from adversity, and we showed that,” Cooper said.
On Brunswick’s first play from scrimmage, Jensen started right and cut back left, running for 61 yards and a touchdown.
Four plays later, after a Lewiston punt, he did it again, this time from 65 yards out. Two carries, 126 yards, two touchdowns.
“It’s what we know right now. He’s running the ball well,” Cooper said. “He’s got the ball 80 percent of the time. And our line’s been doing a great job. But he’s a special athlete, and he can make something out of nothing sometimes.”
Carter added a QB sneak for a touchdown later in the first to stretch the visitors’ lead to 19-7, but Lewiston hung around.
“I thought the Lewiston kids played scrappy,” said Cooper said. “I know they’re young and shorthanded, but they fought had, and they didn’t make it easy for us.”
“We’re young, and we were especially hurt this week with two starting offensive linemen out,” County said. “We just can’t afford that.”
Jensen’s third TD came on his 10th carry, a 49-yard trek up the middle of the field in the second quarter.
But, the Blue Devils struck right back on a 38-yard pass from Ace Curry to Ben Howell to pull Lewiston within 13 at 27-14.
Devils get no closer
That’s as close as the Devils got. Another Carter sneak pushed the lead to 35-14 at the half, a 51-yard catch-and-run from Carter to Lucas McCue early in the third signaled the end of the starters’ night, and the reserves mopped up for the Dragons with two more scores.
Lewiston did score again, and again it was the return game doing the damage, this time on the feet of Sheon James, who skittered for 82 yards late in the third quarter. Lewiston has scored four touchdowns on returns in three games this season.
“This is a return we put in a couple years ago for the Eastern Maine Championship against Bangor,” County said. “It went for a touchdown on the first kickoff then, and it’s been a really nice return for us. Those two kids are good athletes, and I think teams are going to be careful.”
Defensively, Brunswick held tough all game, ultimately allowing only 124 yards of offense.
“We didn’t give up the big play,” Cooper said. “We bent a little, gave up some chunks of yardage, but we prevented the big plays. We forced them to drive the field, and they couldn’t do it.”
Brunswick moves on to play Edward Little in Week 4 this upcoming Friday at Auburn, while Lewiston travels to Skowhegan.
“EL next week is circled right now,” Cooper said. “We can’t overlook anybody. We’ve been in a position before where we’ve slipped and lost a game maybe we shouldn’t have, so no let up from the Dragons.”
FOR MORE, see the Lewiston Sun Journal at ww/sunjournal.com
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
