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Brewer prepared for its regular-season finale against Hampden Academy with only a remote chance to make the playoffs.
The Witches walked off Doyle Field in Brewer in exactly the same position.
Coach Dan O’Connell’s team remained alive in the LTC Class B football postseason hunt with a gutsy 12-6 victory over the Broncos.
The members of the Brewer and Hampden Academy teams now must await the outcome of Saturday’s games to find out whether they qualify for postseason.
Brewer improved to 5-4, picking up a wealth of Heal Points from the Broncos, now 6-3. Foxcroft Academy can clinch the fourth playoff spot with a win over Dexter on Saturday, but a Dexter victory would keep Hampden and possibly Brewer alive.
O’Connell said he didn’t spend a lot of time during the week talking about the playoffs. Instead, he concentrated on pulling his team together. All attended the JV and freshman games in a show of support.
“Monday, we had a team meeting,” O’Connell said. “I told them regardless of what happens, the key thing is that we’ve got to stay together. That was evidenced tonight. We didn’t break.”
O’Connell referred to Brewer’s defense, which came up big. Example: In the final eight minutes, trailing 12-6, the Broncos marched 63 yards to the B-7.
On third-and-five, Tim Hodgins broke up a pass in the end zone intended for Ryan Ward. On the next play, Brewer stopped Del Terrill short to preserve the win.
“I’m a senior and a lot of my friends on the team are seniors,” Abdellah said. “We had a little meeting. We just wanted to win; playoffs wasn’t even in the picture. It could be our last game and we wanted to win regardless of what happened.”
Brewer stood its ground on a couple of other key fourth-down plays in the game. Those stands led to both touchdowns.
Coach Bob Sinclair elected to go for it on a fourth-and-two play from the Brewer 47. Abdellah and Hodgins stopped Steve Flanders a yard short of the first-down marker.
Brewer took over and went to work behind determined senior halfback Kevin Rogers (23 carries, 77 yards). Matt McGrath also completed a 15-yard pass to Andrew King during the 14-play drive.
Rogers capped it with a 1-yard dive with 2:09 left in the first quarter. The PAT kick was blocked.
The Broncos retaliated with a 63-yard scoring march. Terrill, Ryan Ward, and Steve Flanders shared the running load, setting up quarterback Reid Harris’ 1-yard TD plunge with 9:19 left in the half.
The PAT kick was wide right.
Brewer threatened, moving to the HA-3 on the opening series of the second half. But, a penalty and a fumble ended the threat.
Hampden gambled again late in the third on fourth-and-two from its own 48. Brewer held as Ward fumbled.
The Witches cashed in three plays later when Rogers slipped to one knee, then got up, took the handoff, and bolted 17 yards for a score with 52 seconds left in the quarter.
“We just came out and played like it was our last game,” Rogers said. “Hopefully it’s not, but the seniors came out with a lot of heart and wanted this to be the greatest game of our lives.”
Abdellah sparked Brewer’s defense with 16 tackles, while Hodgins made 10 and Mike Billings nine. Bob Sorg was in on eight hits, Bert Smith and Mike Connors seven each for the Broncos.
Hampden rushed for 240 yards and outgained Brewer 240-195.
Witches 12, Broncos 6
Brewer 6 0 6 0 -12
Hampden Academy 0 6 0 0 – 6
B – Rogers 1 run (kick blocked)
HA – Harris 1 run (kick failed)
B – Rogers 17 run (pass failed)
Brewer Hampden First downs 11 16 Rushing: att. – yards 39-105 55-240 Passing: att. – comp. 5-3 2-0 Yards passing 90 0 Total yards 195 240 Intercepted by 0 0 Punts – average 2-35.0 1-36.0 Fumbles – lost 2-1 2-1 Penalties – yards 4-40 2-10
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Brewer: Rogers 23-77, Murray 6-31, Horr 2-13, King 1-7, McGrath 7-(-23); Hampden: Terrill 15-71, St. Flanders 12-56, Ward 12-52, Se. Flanders 12-43, Harris 4-18
PASSING – Brewer: McGrath 3-5-0-90; Hampden: Harris 0-1-0-0, Terrill 0-1-0-0
RECEIVING – Brewer: Horr 2-75, King 1-15; Hampden: none
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