LEWISTON — Shobow Saban knew he was going to be a marked man Friday night — a well-marked man.

The Lewiston forward fully expected the Edward Little boys’ soccer team to defend him vigorously, but he also knew he was going to do what he could to make those efforts futile ones.

“They were talking ‘Mark up Shobow, Mark up Shobow’,” said the senior forward. “I remember coach telling me that they were talking about me and Ali (Hersi) and that we had to play smart. I knew they were going to be all over me. They know me, but I was ready for them.”

Saban scored twice as Lewiston blanked EL 3-0 in a game of rivals. Saban scored early in the opening half and then struck again in the second half. Curtis Robinson added a third goal as Lewiston (3-2) earned its second straight win.

“We really need to win this game,” said Saban. “We played EL the last couple of years and they’d beat us 2-0 or 1-0. Today, we really needed to win. I knew if we played well we could beat them. It wasn’t easy to win, but we did because of hard work and teamwork.”

Lewiston’s quickness up front proved too much for EL to counter. The Red Eddies battled hard but spent much of the game chasing the Blue Devils quickness rather than taking the attack the other way.

“Speed was the difference in the game,” said EL coach Dave Morin. “It’s hard to defend speed. They took advantage of it. Our kids played hard. That was probably one of the better games we played for intensity, but they just had more speed and took advantage of it.”

Lewiston’s defense also did a superb job. The Blue Devils were able to protect their own end and transitioned the ball quickly and effectively up field to the speedy forwards. EL finished with eight shots, most coming in the second half.

“I think the five guys I had out there, they did a phenomenal job and Scott (Ouellette) is a good goalkeeper,” said Lewiston coach Mike McGraw.

Lewiston struck just 7:22 into the game. Ibrahim Achekh possessed the ball in the midfield and kicked it forward. Saban outran the defense and had an open look on goal.

“I wasn’t even expecting that pass,” said Saban. “No one was there, and I went to it. I knew where the goalie was coming out.”

The 1-0 lead lasted through the half. The Blue Devils outshot EL 6-3 but neither team could get a quality offensive try.

“We got down here on the edge but we never really got any testing chances,” said Morin.

With 24:35 left in the second half, Saban struck again. He was alone in front and found himself with a loose ball. He snuck it past a diving EL keeper, Jeremy Hamm.

“When I got the ball, it was a wide open goal, and I just shot it,” said Saban.

Lewiston completed the scoring with 45 seconds left. Achekh fed Robinson in front for the final tally.

“It’s a rivalry game,” said McGraw. “I was expecting it to be 1-0 or 2-1. I think what happened was that as the game wore on, we had more depth and more players coming in with speed. We’re a fast team.”

kmills@sunjournal.com