LEWISTON — One of the major question marks heading into Friday night’s Pine Tree Conference football game was how the Brewer defense would be able to stop the speed and quickness of the Lewiston backfield.

After 298 rushing yards and 56 points, that questioned remained unanswered.

The Blue Devils had five touchdowns longer than 45 yards as they raced past the Witches by a score of 56-12.

Senior halfback Jeff Keene was the main nemesis for the Brewer (0-2) defense as he rushed for 167 yards and a pair of scores on just six touches. He zipped 35 yards around the right side on the third play of the game to help set up quarterback Chris Madden’s 3-yard keeper to the left.

On the ensuing Lewiston (2-0) offensive series, he took a sweep around the left end 59 yards to paydirt and a 14-0 lead. Later in the half, he went 71 yards for another score.

“When we get to the outside,” said Keene, “we’re gone. We’ve got the top running backs in the state and the offensive line works their butts off. It’s a big advantage when we get to the outside.”

The Witches had a chance to break the Blue Devils scoring string, but they were stopped on fourth down inside the 10 early in the second quarter.

“We just didn’t come to play tonight,” said Brewer coach Don Farnham. “They got some quick touchdowns. We had a chance to get a touchdown early and change the momentum, but we didn’t score.”

The Blue Devils built their lead to 28-0 late in the first half on a long touchdown pass from Madden to tight end Cody Dussault. On first-and-10 from their own 29, the Blue Devils called for a play-action pass. Madden executed the fake and then heaved the ball downfield. Dussault initially bobbled the ball before finally collecting it at the Brewer 43. He then slipped down the sideline en route to a 71-yard score.

Moments later, Matt Therrien intercepted a Dylan Oxley (3-of-12 for 23 yards) pass and returned it 51 yards down the sideline to the Brewer 9. That set up Jeff Turcotte’s 3-yard scoring burst up the middle and the Blue Devils led 35-0.

Therrien struck again on the next Brewer offensive series. Oxley’s pass over the middle was deflected into the air by Keene and fell into the arms of Therrien at the Brewer 47. The junior cornerback this time had no one in front of him as he raced down the left sideline untouched to the end zone.

Brewer finally answered as it put together a 66-yard drive in the final stages of the second quarter, capped by an Oxley 10-yard pass to Nate Morris on the final play of the half.

The Blue Devils would tack on two more scores in the second half on a 49-yard scamper up the gut by fullback Joe McKinnon and a 2-yard run by Zach Phelan.

“We got to the line quickly (with our backs),” said Lewiston coach Bill County. “We’re quick enough to get there before they finished their stunts. We’ll match up speed with anybody.”

Dillon Smith put up a 24-yard score late in the game to complete the scoring for the Witches. He finished with 37 yards on the ground while teammate Caleb Norwood led the visitors with 41 yards rushing.

dst.hilaire@sunjournal.com