Freshman Jayden Wilson netted the game-winning goal 1:54 into overtime to keep Lewiston’s postseason alive in an 8-7 victory over Portland in an Eastern Class A quarterfinal Wednesday.

“It feels amazing, but it wasn’t just me,” Wilson said. “It started with the pass. We had great teamwork all game. It was a wonderful game to play.”

The Blue Devils will play Messalonskee on Friday at 5:15 p.m. at Thomas College. The teams split during the regular season.

Junior Griffin Wade set up Wilson’s game-winning goal with a pass to his wide open teammate to the left of Portland goaltender Andrew Hoekstra. Wilson fired a shot past Hoekstra into the lower-left corner of the net for his second goal of the night. 

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Lewiston coach Ben Fournier said. “That was a battle. There were many points where it could have gone either way. The whole game, we’d answer, they’d answer, we’d answer. They played tough. They played hard and the chips just happened to fall our way tonight. I’m glad they did.”

Wilson’s first goal of the night helped rejuvenate a Blue Devils team that saw their season frantically ticking away late in the fourth quarter. Trailing 7-5 with fewer than four minutes remaining in regulation, Wilson buried a shot off a pass from Darius Phillips to get Lewiston within a goal. Wilson’s goal snapped Lewiston’s 17-minute, 10-second scoring drought.

The Blue Devils (11-2) drew even with 1:40 left on a rocket from Roman Dennis over the shoulder of Hoekstra. 

The Bulldogs (6-7) had a chance to win it on the final play of regulation, but Lewiston goaltender Bryan Wagg made the most important of his 10 saves to force the extra session. 

“I think our defense stepped up big,” Fournier said. “We don’t run many defenders and their offense, they run, run, run. They have quick, athletic guys and our defense, they dug deep and they came to play today.”

Prior to Lewiston’s late run, Portland rattled off three unanswered goals to grab a 7-5 lead. DJ Cooper’s fourth goal of the contest gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the game at 6-5 with 10:23 left when he got behind the Lewiston defense on a breakaway. 

Robert Nolan scored a man-up goal a minute later to put the Blue Devils in a two-goal hole. 

Despite the late deficit, Fournier said his team stayed calm. 

“The kids were plenty focused without my help,” Fournier said. “They wanted to win. They are a tenacious group of young guys. They were getting after it and they didn’t quit. They weren’t even looking at the clock. They knew they were down and they knew we had to claw our way back.”

Wade had the game-winning assist, but he had Lewiston’s first two goals as well. The first came 3:51 into the contest and the second with 2:10 left in the first quarter to give Lewiston a 2-1 lead. 

“They were just giving me the inside and they weren’t sliding to me,” Wade said. “I was just shooting on net and they were going in.”

Dennis scored seven seconds later, scooping up the ensuing faceoff and outrunning the Portland defense en route to his first of three goals. 

“We knew they were going to be fast,” Portland coach Michael Difusco said. “We knew they were going to be physical. We just had to come out and play four quarters and try and play with them. They played strong the whole way through and played strong through the overtime and ended up finishing up on top.” 

Portland scored three of the next four goals to tie the game at 4 going into halftime. 

Hoekstra finished with 16 saves.