LEWISTON – They were outrushed, outgained in terms of total yardage, and maybe even outhit, but the Bangor Rams refused to be outscored.

Despite being held to its lowest rushing and overall yardage totals in at least three seasons, Bangor remained unbeaten with a 20-7 victory over Lewiston on a pleasant Saturday night at a soggy Franklin Athletic Complex.

“We were challenged in every aspect: physically, emotionally, mentally, and obviously energy-wise. They were very, very tough,” said coach Mark Hackett, whose Rams are now 4-0. “I think we got shocked a little bit by their physical strength. It looked to me like we were pulling teeth. We struggled, but we’ll take this win.”

The Rams were at their lowest point at halftime. The Blue Devils held a 7-6 lead that could easily have been 14-6 had a 57-yard touchdown run by the Devils on the game’s third play not been called back by an illegal formation penalty. A clipping penalty occurring 20 yards downfield would have also negated the run.

Whatever fire and brimstone halftime speech Hackett gave should have been recorded. The fired-up Rams came out of the break and returned the second half kickoff for a touchdown.

Senior tailback Buddy Nickerson called for the ball at the Rams’ 14-yard line, cut quickly to the left, turned and cut back to the right behind a huge Bangor wedge of blockers pushing everyone wearing blue backward, and sprinted almost untouched down the right side for an 86-yard dagger to the heart of Lewiston’s momentum.

Nickerson, who was held to just 27 yards on eight carries, had to break just two tackles during the game-changing play. The Rams then converted a two-point play on a pass from Chris Bombardier (5-for-11, 75 yards) to tight end Derrick Shain, who was all alone on the right side of the end zone.

Lewiston then went four downs and out on its next series before Bangor had to punt after getting as far as midfield on seven plays. Three straight four-down series followed before Bangor struck again, this time with five-play, 15-yard drive set up by Trevor LaGrange’s recovery of a Devils’ fumble, one of six on the night.

Bombardier’s quasi-bootleg, 1-yard touchdown run off a great fake to Nickerson up the middle gave Bangor a 13-point lead with 9:56 left in the game.

It wasn’t pretty, but it was enough.

“This is probably the best football game we’ve played just because it was a football game,” Nickerson said. “Honestly, they were a lot tougher up front than other teams we’ve played. We didn’t have the ball on offense as much as usual, so we just did what we had to do.”

Lewiston, now 2-2, was buoyed by the return of three linebackers, who were starting together for the first time this season. Its offense, however, was ailing as tailback Brandon Kyajohnian is out with a knee injury. Despite that, the Devils outrushed Bangor 102 yards to 38 and outgained Bangor 160 to 113.

“We came in and went toe to toe with a good football team and I think we’re better than people think we are,” said Devils coach Bill County. “I think maybe we’re better than my players think we are. We really matured tonight.”

So did Bangor.

“This really shows how our character comes through,” said two-way Rams lineman Ben Guerette. “That’s a good thing because we’ll need it down the road.”

Bangor scored on its opening drive after recovering a Devils fumble at the L-35. Nickerson capped a five-play drive with a 3-yard TD run. Lewiston answered 91/2 minutes later as Jared Jalbert caught a 37-yard TD pass from Brent Dube thrown over the middle and behind two defenders.

Rams 20, Blue Devils 7

Bangor (4-0) 6 0 8 6?20

Lewiston (2-2) 0 7 0 0? 7

B ? Nickerson 3 run (pass failed)

L ? Jalbert 37 pass from Dube (LeClair kick)

B ? Nickerson 86 kickoff return (Bombardier pass to Shain)

B ? Bombardier 1 run (pass failed)

Bangor Lewiston

First downs 5 9

Rushing att.-yards 22-38 44-102

Passing comp.-att. 5-11 4-6

Passing yards 75 58

Total yards 113 160

Punts-avg. 6-40.0 4-33.5

Fumbles-lost 3-0 6-2

Intercepted by 1 1

Penalties-yards 4-40 7-55

Rushing

Bangor: Nickerson 11-38, Largay 3-6, Huhn 4-4, Bombardier 3-(-4), Schmersal 1-(-6); Lewiston: Madore 18-43, Foisy 2-21, Jalbert 6-21, Harriman 6-9, Dube 12-8

Passing

Bangor: Bombardier 5-11-1-75; Lewiston: Dube 4-6-1-58

Receiving

Bangor: Shain 1-26, Ray 1-25, Prentiss 1-18, Schmersal 2-6; Lewiston: Jalbert 3-56, Cobb 1-2

A? 450 (est.)