Lewiston's Andrew Theriault maintains control of the puck as he heads towards Falmouth goalie Brandon White while being trailed by defenders Anders Hesson (16) and Jacoby Porter during Wednesday’s game in Lewiston. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

LEWISTON — The race for the top spot in Class A is officially wide open.

Falmouth entered its matchup with Lewiston on Wednesday at The Colisee as the final undefeated team in Class A and the top-ranked team in the first Varsity Maine boys hockey poll of the season.

The Navigators’ perfect start, however, was halted in a 1-0 loss to the reigning state champion Blue Devils.

First-year Falmouth coach Hogan Tracy said Wednesday’s game shows the classification’s depth.

“Absolutely. There’s a whole number of teams that have a chance this year, and it’s a good thing for Class A,” Tracy said.

Five of the 13 teams in Class A have less than two losses this season. The Blue Devils (4-3) aren’t one of them, but they are second in the Heal point standings after back-to-back wins over Thornton Academy (4-3 on Saturday) and Falmouth.

Lewiston coach Sam Cloutier said the players understood the importance of the first two games of the new year after they went 1-2 in exhibition play at the St. Dom’s Christmas Classic and then lost to Scarborough, 3-2, on Dec. 30.

“Coming into it, we knew that these were two big games,” Cloutier, also in his first year as a head coach, said. “The boys were ready to go. They met the challenge. … Class A is, you know, all those teams at the top are pretty close. And it’s who shows up on a given night.”

Forward Matt Levasseur, who scored the lone goal against Falmouth in the second period, said Lewiston plays better when the stakes are higher.

“Yeah, if we don’t get up, we’re probably gonna lose,” Levasseur said. “We just need to be there every game.”

Blue Devils goalie Will Routhier, who made 22 saves against Falmouth to earn his second career shutout, said beating two top teams is a confidence booster. So is, he said, having everyone back on the ice after Aiyzk Laliberte and Ben Junkins missed some time.

“All the lines are back,” Routhier said. “It feels amazing to just watch from my perspective, and everyone’s moving the puck while everyone’s playing as a team. We have a lot of chemistry together.”

Levasseur noted that the Blue Devils have faced some adversity in losing one-goal games against Scarborough and against St. Dom’s in the middle of December.

While Wednesday’s setback is the first such adversity for Falmouth (7-1), Tracy said he liked the Navigators’ response after they fell behind 1-0 in the second period.

“We started to work a little bit harder in that second period, and we got a couple of penalty calls to go our way,” Tracy said. “They set us up really nicely to carry the momentum through, and we just couldn’t find the back of the net.”

Tracy said the loss isn’t the worst thing in for the Navigators.

“There’s a lot of pressure that comes with being undefeated and being No. 1,” Tracy said. “And I’m not going to say it’s great to lose a game, because it’s never great, but it’s good to have a little bit of a reality check every once in a while.”

The last Class A team to finish undefeated was the 2019-20 Lewiston Blue Devils.

Cloutier, a 2011 Lewiston High School graduate, said Lewiston always faces the opposition’s “best game.” Routhier said that doesn’t bother the Blue Devils.

“Yeah, we love it,” Routhier said. “We’re used to it as a Lewiston hockey program, and we just know there’s always going to be a target on our back, no matter how good or bad we’re really expected to be.”