LEWISTON — Forty-five minutes of football were enough — if you weren’t already aware of it after the 2012 breakthrough — that same-old Bates is long gone.

But same-old Trinity showed up just in time Saturday afternoon to spoil the Bobcats’ NESCAC season-opener at Garcelon Field.

Trailing by a field goal with a quarter to play, the reigning conference champion Bantams scored two touchdowns in a span of under four minutes, squirming away with a 28-17 victory.

Senior captain Evan Bunker scored three Trinity TDs, including the go-ahead, 5-yard run off left tackle with 12:47 to play.

Bates turned it over on its next two series, and Henry Foye put it away with a 13-yard scoring toss to Chris Ragone at the 9:14 mark.

“It was turnovers. That was one of the things we felt pretty good about coming in. We’ve just got to clean that up,” Bates coach Mark Harriman said. “They’re a good football team. You give them opportunities and they’re going to take advantage of it.”

Foye, a sophomore, completed 9 of 13 passes for 95 yards in the second half in relief of freshman starter Sonny Puzzo.

With the Bobcats loading up against Bunker — who has accumulated more than 3,000 yards in his stellar Trinity tenure — Foye’s ability to fire accurate screens and quick-outs to his array of receivers was paramount to the comeback.

Ragone was one of six different Bantams with a second-half reception.

“Sonny struggled a little bit in the first half, so making that change to Henry, what a luxury it is to have,” Trinity coach Jeff Devanney said. “Henry is a very, very good passing quarterback, and we needed that at that point. They weren’t going to let us run the ball. They were basically daring us.”

Bunker finished with 27 carries for 123 yards, all but 30 of those prior to intermission.

Charlie Donahue capped Bates’ opening drive of the second half with a 22-yard field goal to break a 14-14 halftime tie.

The Bobcats’ swarming, stunting defense, led at the point of attack by Adam Cuomo and Andrew Kukesh, chalked up three consecutive three-and-out series to start the second half prior to the Bantams’ 11-play, 77-yard game-winning march.

Foye completed five passes on that drive, including two catches apiece by A.J. Jones and Ian Dugger.

By that time, Trinity — winners of all eight games by an average of almost 20 points in 2012 — knew it was in a rare battle. That might have surprised some folks on the visiting sideline, but Devanney wasn’t one of them.

“We’ve got a lot of young kids on the team, and I think they’re good, but especially Game 1, they never play as well as you hope they can play,” Devanney said. “And that team over there, they’re well-coached and they do great things on both sides of the ball that you have to play well to execute against it.”

Bates never trailed until the fourth quarter.

Ryan Curit chalked up pair of a 1-yard TD runs prior to the half. Gilbert Brown’s interception of Puzzo set up Curit’s plunge on fourth-and-goal with 14:28 left. Matt Cannone’s 62-yard connection with Mike Tomaino led to the second TD at the 4:29 mark.

Each time, Trinity answered immediately with lengthy drives capped by Bunker runs, 2 yards with 10:25 to go and 1 yard with 2:27 left.

The first of Bates’ three lost fumbles short-circuited another promising Bates drive in the first half. Tom Szymanski made the recovery.

“The things that hurt us today are fixable. That’s the good news,” Harriman said. “The intensity and effort were exactly what we were looking for. I think we’ve got talent at positions on both sides of the ball.”

Bates’ triple option amassed 290 net rushing yards, with Curit (30 rushes, 104 yards) over the century mark and Shawn Doherty (20 for 91) and quarterback Patrick Dugan (20 for 79) on the verge.

The Bobcats fell 37-16 to the Bantams a year ago before a 5-2 run that clinched the program’s first winning season since 1981.

“We were doing everything to not let them have the dive, and we were going to make them get the ball on the perimeter. And their quarterback was getting the ball to the perimeter and gaining six, seven yards and got the pitch off a couple of times,” Devanney said. “Our game plan was we knew if we could just get them going sideways that eventually they’d turn the ball over a few times.”

koakes@sunjournal.com