BANGOR — Lewiston High School senior split end-defensive back Desmond Jackson isn’t the regular Blue Devil punt returner.

But when injuries left Lewiston shorthanded in that department, head coach Bruce Nicholas inserted him into that role last week in a 28-20 loss to Cheverus of Portland.

Jackson just may have won the job on Friday night as he set up a pair of first-half touchdowns with punt returns of 36 and 67 yards as the Blue Devils scored 28 unanswered points in the second quarter en route to an impressive 34-14 triumph at Cameron Stadium.

Lewiston improved to 1-3 while Bangor fell to 0-4.

“We worked on punt returns all week,” said Nicholas. “I just told him to catch the ball and go straight ahead. Don’t go east-west, go north-south. And he did that.”

Jackson’s 36-yard return late in the first quarter set up Lewiston’s first touchdown as he caught Gary Farnham’s punt at the Bangor 40 and followed some terrific blocks down the left side to the 4-yard line.

“There was no one close to me, no one within 20 yards. Everyone was blocking so I went as far as I could,” said Jackson.

Three plays later, Garrett Poussard rambled 7 yards over the right side to make it 6-0.

After hard-running senior Roman Dennis extended the lead by bursting 73 yards up the middle, Jackson rattled off his 67-yard return to set the stage for a 7-yard run by Dennis, who broke several tackles on his way to the end zone.

“I made a last-second decision to cut it up the middle after I took it down the right side. I saw a lane, everyone was blocking and were where they were supposed to be, and I took one little cut and took it up the field,” said Jackson, who was tackled at the Bangor 7-yard-line.

Jackson said he enjoys returning punts.

“I like seeing my team block as I run up the field. It’s a nice feeling,” said Jackson who finished with 112 yards on three returns. He also caught two passes for 40 yards.

Bangor put together its best drive of the half late in the second quarter, but on fourth-and-11 at the Lewiston 30, Lewiston junior linebacker Gordon Beckwith picked off Gary Farnham’s pass and raced 77 yards to make it 28-0.

“We made some big plays,” said Nicholas. “We’ve had big plays go against us. It’s nice to see it go the other way.”

Sophomore Tanner Cortes, making his first start at quarterback, dashed 7 yards for a third-quarter TD to expand the lead to 34-0.

To their credit, the Rams didn’t quit and, behind courageous senior quarterback Farnham, scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns on Mike Perkins’ 2-yard run, which followed Farnham completions of 10 yards to Luke Tuell and 9 yards to Noah Missbrenner, and Farnham’s 19-yard run with 23.7 seconds left.

The hard-running Dennis finished with 120 yards on 11 carries. Poussard had 43 yards on 15 carries.

Farnham completed 14 of 24 passes for 136 yards. Derek McCarthy caught five passes for 53 yard,s and Tuell caught five for 46 more.

Nick Canarr rushed for 53 tough yards on 18 carries for Bangor.

“Those punt returns in the first half certainly got us,” said Bangor coach Alan Mosca. “Lewiston has some very good athletes and they got around the edge on us. That certainly cost us. They wound up with short fields and field position and that will kill you.”

He said his team grew in some areas. “Certainly, there are some areas we have to work on, obviously. I was proud of the way the kids responded. They battled the whole game,” said Mosca.