Deering’s Dru Tillman returns a punt for a touchdown during the Rams’ 33-12 loss at Edward Little Friday night.

City football teams were road warriors last weekend and two squads came home with victories.

Two-time defending Class A North champion Portland was in desperate need of a win after starting 0-5 and the Bulldogs got healthy by dominating host Bangor, 56-0.

Portland got contributions from several sources, as quarterback Terion Moss had over 200 all-purpose yards, scored touchdowns on the ground, through the air and on a punt return, Sam Knop ran for a score and caught a TD pass, Zach Elowitch and Vinnie Pasquali both had touchdown runs and Nico Leavitt returned an interception for a score.

“We needed (to win) and it feels good,” said Bulldogs coach Jim Hartman. “The kids played extremely well. We’re usually slow out of the gate, but not in this game. The backs all had huge nights.”

The Bulldogs (now 1-5 and sixth in Class A North) return home Friday to welcome 3-3 Lewiston. Last year, Portland beat the visiting Blue Devils, 34-13.

“We’re getting better as the season goes along, but we have two huge games left,” Hartman said. “Lewiston is really good and athletic, so we’ll have our hands full. We’re still young. It’s a process.”

Cheverus evened its record at 3-3 and is now fourth in Class A North after holding on for a 20-14 victory at Lewiston. A 25-yard touchdown run from Max Coffin gave the Stags an early lead, but the Blue Devils drew even. Late in the first half, however, Perrin Conant hit Sean Tompkins from 34-yards out to make it 14-7 Cheverus at the break. Tompkins then raced 84 yards with the second half kickoff for a 20-7 lead.

“For Tompkins to get that, I mean, that’s one heck of a way to set a tone,” Stags senior lineman Zeb Leavitt said. “We’ve had that happen to us. We know the downside of that. But having that really boosted our confidence.”

Lewiston drew within six points on a long scoring pass and had chances down the stretch to steal a victory, but the Cheverus defense stood tall and the Stags got out of town with their first road victory, 20-14.

“We won that game with grit,” Leavitt said. “We’re a stable defensive unit all the way around. We’ve got some young guys up front, but the key to it was we stayed low, we stayed square and we beat them with our physicality up front.”

Coffin, who entered the game as the second-leading rusher in Class A North, finished with 143 yards on 33 rushes.

The Stags return home Saturday to take on 3-3 Sanford. The teams didn’t play in 2016.

Deering, coming off its inspirational comeback from 18 points down against Lewiston, went to undefeated Edward Little Friday and despite a couple of big plays, an 84-yard punt return for a score by Dru Tillman and an 8-yard run by quarterback Travis Soule, went down to a 33-12 defeat to fall to 1-5 and fifth in Class A South.

“So the story goes; this is us,” Deering coach Jason Jackson said. “We can compete with whoever, you see it, but it’s always mistakes here, mistakes there, it’s just mental errors.”

The Rams return home Friday, but have the daunting task of taking on 6-0 Bonny Eagle, the state’s best team. Last year, Deering lost, 21-7, at the Scots. 

Sun Journal staff writer Lee Horton and Randy Whitehouse contributed to this story.

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.

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