Not only are the Blue Devils the reigning state champions and two-time defending regional title-holders, coach Mike McGraw’s club has played in the past four Class A North (East) finals.

But the gap between Lewiston and the rest of the Class A North contenders may be narrowing a bit this fall.

The Blue Devils had their 24-match winning streak halted at Mt. Ararat on Sept. 23, and six teams entered Friday’s play with just one or two losses.

“Anybody from one through five or six could win it,” said McGraw after his club got a goal from senior midfielder Benjamin Musese with 46.1 seconds left in regulation play Friday to outlast Camden Hills 1-0 at Don Palmer Field.

“In saying that, I wouldn’t want to get teams seven and eight mad at me either, because you never can tell in a playoff situation, but certainly those teams with one or two or three losses are capable. Anybody’s capable, it’s just that kind of league this year.”

Lewiston, Mount Ararat and Bangor all are now 8-1 on the season, with Bangor’s lone loss coming to Edward Little while star midfielder Carson Atherley was away on a college visit.

EL, Messalonskee and Camden Hills also are in that top-six mix, with coach Ryan Hurley’s Camden Hills squad providing stiff defensive resistance against the lightning-quick Lewiston attackers throughout their lone regular-season meeting.

“Camden came at us hard,” said senior midfielder Maulid Abdow, the lone returning starter from Lewiston’s undefeated and nationally ranked 2015 team. “We’re used to it, though, and then we fight back. But they were fighting hard, too, and it was a good battle.”

Abdow helped set up the game-winning goal moments after Camden Hills (6-3) mounted some of its best sustained offense of the match, including a late give-and-go between Josiah Krul and Michael Blackwell that forced Lewiston goalie Alex Rivet to go to the turf to stop Krul’s challenging shot on goal.

Lewiston eventually capitalized on the counterattack, with senior defender Joseph Kalilwa sending a long clearing pass from the defensive end to Abdow along the left wing near midfield.

Abdow dribbled the ball toward Camden Hills goalie Lucas Boetsch, and while Boetsch came out of the crease to block Abdow’s initial attempt, Musese one-timed the rebound inside the far post.

“I saw (Abdow) coming in hard so I came out and I guess I made the save but the ball went straight up and (Musese) headed it right into the corner,” said Boetsch. “I wanted to get a piece of the initial shot but it wasn’t quite enough.”

Musese bided his time on his rush into the offensive zone, anticipating Abdow’s move toward the net.

“I trailed the play,” he said. “I knew (Abdow) was going to shoot because we have that connection, we have that chemistry between us.”

Lewiston finished with a 20-6 advantage in shot attempts, with Rivet making two saves and Boetsch turning away nine shots, including two of Lewiston’s most testing bids in the opening moment of play.

“Every opponent poses a different kind of problem, and for our kids it’s a matter of problem solving,” McGraw said. “They’ll drive their coaches nuts sometimes, but that’s what you get when you’re coaching 15- and 16- and 17-year-olds.”

And while the last-minute nature of its defeat may have been frustrating, a Camden Hills team in just its second year of Class A competition left the field believing it is no less a member of the region’s elite that it did before facing the reigning gold standard.

“We were tested,” said Boetsch, the cousin of UFC mixed martial arts veteran Tim Boetsch, “but I really think we played our best. It’s a shame that we lost, but we gave it our all.”