Leavitt knocks off Brewer to gain final

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BREWER – It’s a play you draw up in a sandlot football game. You send your buddy down about 10 yards and throw him the ball. He laterals to your other buddy who then moon walks into the end zone for the touchdown.

It’s the old hook-and-lateral play and for the second week in a row, Leavitt of Turner used the play to help pull off an upset.

Last week it was previously unbeaten Mountain Valley of Rumford. Friday night at Doyle Field it was second-seeded Brewer in the LTC Class B semifinals. The third-seeded Hornets ended the Witches season 27-16.

Leavitt will play in the Eastern Maine final next week against the winner of Saturday’s game between Belfast and Morse of Bath.

The hook-and-lateral didn’t score a touchdown but it kept a drive alive for the 7-3 Hornets. It came on Leavitt’s first possession of the second quarter with Brewer holding an 8-7 lead and the Hornets facing a third down and 24 from the Brewer 41-yard line.

Leavitt quarterback Ben Berube hit Jamie Brewer on an 8-yard curl route. Brewer immediately pitched the ball to Chad Schrepper who was finally dragged down at the Brewer 20. The Witches then jumped offside to give the Hornets a first down.

Four running plays later Berube carried in from the 6 for the touchdown and although their 2-point conversion attempt failed, the Hornets were in front for good.

“We run it once each week in practice and it works. So we said we were going to run it in a game at least once and it’s worked both times we’ve tried,” Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway said.

The Witches had been able to move the ball against the Hornets and would finish the night with 252 rushing yards. But other than their two touchdown drives, just as it appeared something good was about to happen for Brewer, something went wrong.

With 2:20 remaining in the first half, Brewer’s Matt Whalen pounced on a Leavitt fumble at the Hornets’ 41. On their first play, the Witches ran a reverse pass with Court Rancourt throwing the ball downfield to a wide-open receiver who dropped the ball.

Then, with seconds remaining, Rancourt carried to his left, was hemmed in and reversed field for a very long 3-yard touchdown run. However, the Witches were guilty of an illegal block on the play, negating the score.

Then to start the fourth quarter, with good field position at the Leavitt 36, the Hornets’ Tyler Poland intercepted a pass and returned it all the way to the Brewer 2 and Berube scored on the next play to stretch the lead to 21-8.

Brewer’s Seth Emerson gave the Hornets fits, rushing for 146 yards on 15 carries and he brought 7-3 Brewer back to within a touchdown with a 21-yard touchdown run with 6:48 in the game. Josh Caldwell carried 18 times for 76 yards and a touchdown.

At that point, the Hornets turned the game over to fullback Chad Dyer and his offensive line. Leavitt put together a 14-play, 49-yard drive that chewed up 6:05 and resulted in a 2-yard run by Dyer.

“It’s the line and the backs,” Leavitt captain Marcus Reny said. “Our coach tells us we’re one big family out there. So we try to keep it that way and we act like a family out there.”

Berube picked up 89 yards on 22 carries, with 28 yards coming on the final drive. Jamie Brewer caught three passes for 40 yards including a 23-touchdown catch in the first quarter.

“That fullback just starts to wear you down after a while,” Brewer coach Josh Emmett said. “They made some plays.”

HORNETS 27, WITCHES 16

Leavitt (7-3) 7 6 0 14 ? 27

Brewer (7-3) 8 0 0 8 ? 16

L ? Brewer 23 pass from Berube (Brewer kick)

B ? Caldwell 3 run (Caldwell rush)

L ? Berube 6 run (pass failed)

L ? Berube 2 run (Berube pass to Brewer)

B ? Emerson 21 run (Caldwell rush)

L ? Dyer 5 run (rush failed)

Leavitt Brewer

First downs 11 14

Rushing att.-yards 40-150 45-252

Passing comp.-att. 5-12 0-10

Passing yards 70 0

Total yards 220 252

Punts-avg. 2-25.5 2-35.5

Fumbles-lost 3-1 3-0

Intercepted by 1 0

Penalties-yards 3-35 3-30

Rushing

Leavitt: Dyer 22-89, Schrepper 7-31, Berube 7-28, Hardacker 2-4, T. Poland 2-(-2); Brewer: Emerson 15-146, Caldwell 18-76, Rancourt 3-16, Noyes 6-15, Team 3-(-1)

Passing

Leavitt: Berube 5-12-0-70; Brewer: Collins 0-8-0-0, Rancourt 0-2-1-0

Receiving

Leavitt: Brewer 3-41, L. Poland 1-21, Dyer 1-8; Brewer: none

A?400 (est.)