Griffin Foley, playing days after the death of his father, caught two touchdown passes as Portland beat Lewiston 34-13 in a Class A North football game Friday night at Fitzpatrick Stadium.
“Having all (my teammates) with me is helpful,” said Foley. “It makes me stronger, it makes the team stronger. It felt really good to get that one for my dad. I know I made him proud.”
Foley’s first touchdown came with 3:46 left in the first quarter, a 12-yard pass from Issiah Bachelder to the left side of the end zone, and Quinn Clarke’s conversion kick extended the Bulldogs’ lead to 13-0.
“It’s never going to feel the same ever again,” said Foley. “Nothing is going to be more important to me than that was. It was surreal.”
With less than two minutes to play in the half, Bachelder connected again with Foley on a 17-yard scoring pass.
“All week we were trying to get Griffin a touchdown or two, which we got,” said Bachelder. “I know that this was special for him and nothing will ever be like that ever again.”
The point-after gave Portland a 20-0 halftime lead.
Bachelder threw for 110 yards and three touchdowns for Portland (5-1).
“Our running backs set up the passing game and we have great athletes on the outside,” said Bachelder. “That makes it easy, especially with a great line. So hats off to everyone on the team.”
Portland took an early 6-0 lead on a 12-yard run by Dylan Bolduc.
Bachelder connected with Jake Knop on a 42-yard touchdown pass early in the second half to push the Bulldogs to a 27-0 lead.
Lewiston (1-5) answered with a pair of touchdown runs by Garrett Poussard – late in the third quarter and midway through the fourth quarter – to cut the deficit to 27-13.
“I think we started to run out of gas (in the second half),” said Portland Coach Jim Hartman. “(Lewiston) is better than their record. Their running backs played hard.”
Poussard played a solid game for Lewiston, rushing for 69 yards and the two touchdowns.
With just over a minute remaining, Bolduc ran in another touchdown to seal the game for Portland.
“We won. We played well. There were some good things and some bad things,” said Hartman. “We can’t be satisfied. It’s time to grow now.”
Bolduc finished with 111 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
Knop finished with 70 rushing yards, 42 receiving yards, a touchdown reception and an interception.
“Knop had a monster game today,” said Hartman.
Portland has won five straight games after losing to Scarborough in its opener.
“After that game Issiah (Bachelder), after the team huddled up, said: ‘We’re not going to lose again,’ ” said Foley.
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