For the first time in at least six years, Brewer’s varsity football team is 4-0.

Barring an epic second-half collapse, the Witches are also primed to make history another way by notching back-to-back playoff seasons for the first time in at least 35 years.

Although the Witches were a perennial pigskin powerhouse during the Ken Perrone era in the late 1960s and early 1970s with two undefeated and nationally ranked seasons, a playoff appearance this season would be the first for Brewer, at least since school reclassification in 1967.

Nobody seems to recall the last time the Witches started out 4-0.

“Not since I’ve been here and this is my fifth season,” said head coach Josh Emmett, who also is a Brewer High alumnus.

Brewer may be in the midst of a football renaissance as all three teams – varsity, JV and freshman – are unbeaten.

“I’m real excited about the kids and the program,” Emmett said. “Our JV team went down to Winslow and won 20-0 [Monday] and the entire program’s undefeated right now.

“The kids are playing with so much confidence and that’s really what it is. There’s just a lot of that right now.”

The Witches took a big step toward legitimizing a once-proud program with a 7-6 win on the road Saturday against previously unbeaten and 2001 Western Maine Class B runner-up Scarborough, which thumped Brewer 36-8 last year.

“We knew that game didn’t have anything to do with the LTC championship, but it had a whole lot to do with setting us straight,” Emmett explained. “We stood toe to toe with them and punched them in the mouth. They punched us in the mouth, and we were fortunate we came out on top. It was a very physical game.”

Emmett said the biggest reason for Brewer’s success this season is the maturation and steady improvement of the team’s defense, which has yielded an average of 10.5 points per game.

With almost 60 players on the roster, Emmett has been able to platoon players and reduce reliance on two-way players, thereby improving the Witches’ stamina and durability. As many as 35 players, sometimes more, log quality game time.

“That was very evident Saturday,” he said. “Defensively, we were physically and mentally fresh, but they made a number of mental mistakes later in the game, and our kids took advantage of it.”

Should their hot start continue, the Witches are set to have their sixth playoff, and 15th winning season in the last 35 years. Two more wins would give them their ninth season with six or more victories.

Colleges courting Clark

Brewer track and field standout Heather Clark is attracting a lot of interest from college recruiters lately.

The senior distance specialist got together with coach Glendon Rand after she culled an initial list of 3,000 college possibilities on a computer databank down to 30 last summer and mailed out highlights and informational packets to her top choices, including Villanova, Sacred Heart, Mississippi and other colleges with NCAA Division I track programs.

Clark’s phone has literally been ringing constantly the last couple weeks.

“That’s been a crazy part of all this is just how heavily she’s being recruited, but hopefully she’ll be able to handle that as well and focus on her training,” said Rand, who helped Clark send out her college packages.

Starting out the fall cross country season by winning each of her first four races certainly hasn’t done anything to diminish her “marketability.”

“Yeah, it seems like my phone’s ringing every night,” said Clark, who wants to study nursing and become a midwife. “Sometimes I’m talking to coaches from 8 to 11 p.m. some nights, which takes time away from other things I have to do, but it’s OK. It’s a nice problem to have.”

Clark will travel to University, Miss., in two weeks via an all-expenses paid trip, courtesy of the University of Mississippi.

Clark is coming off a record-breaking run at the 54th Sectionals Invitational meet at Old Town Saturday, when she broke the 3.03-mile course record by 18 seconds with an 18:45.

“It’s not just that she’s in better shape. She’s running with more confidence too,” said Rand. “She used to be more laid back and followed people, but now she’s able to have the confidence to get up in the lead pack and take charge when she feels it’s time to.”

Students team up to coach

The life of a college student is busy with school, extracurricular activities, sports, and finding the time for some kind of social life.

Two UMaine juniors have taken on a whole other world of responsibility – they drive back and forth from Orono to Searsport every day to coach the Vikings boys soccer team.

Ryan Middleswart and Aaron Ward, who are both 20-year-old secondary education majors and are roommates at Maine, took over the varsity position this season after coaching the Searsport middle school team to a 12-2 record last year.

“We like doing it,” Ward said recently. “It’s been a challenge. We definitely learn something every day.”

The two are also former Searsport soccer players who were members of the 1999 Eastern Maine Class C championship team.

The drive takes about an hour, give or take road construction, Ward said. The coaches’ classes run from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., then they head to Searsport for practice or a game, and are back in Orono by about 7 p.m.

“We talked about it [before applying for the job] and arranged our schedules so we could do it,” Ward said.

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or aneff@bangordailynews.net.