Brewer tames Lions for win Fullbacks key unbeaten Witches

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BELFAST – Fullback isn’t always a glory position, but for the Brewer High football team it was a catalyst to victory Friday night.

Matt Littlefield and Ben Caldwell combined for 154 rushing yards and two touchdowns as the Witches remained unbeaten with an 38-12 victory over Belfast that spoiled the Lions’ Homecoming celebration. Littlefield (six carries, 96 yards) established the early tenor of this contest with a 49-yard run that set up Brewer’s first score, a 24-yard pass from Ricky Porter to tight end Drew Francis. Caldwell (10-58) was a second-half spark, carrying seven times for 36 yards during a 13-play, 65-yard third-quarter march that stretched Brewer’s lead to 32-12 and ended any Belfast comeback hopes.

“Our fullbacks just got through the holes,” said Brewer coach Ed Ortego. “[Belfast] really gave us some fits on the outside, we weren’t as consistent out there. But we have three ways to attack, and we were able to execute at the fullback position.”

The win leaves the 5-0 Witches alone atop the Pine Tree Conference Class B standings, and their first win at Belfast since 1991 also represented payback for a 32-0 loss to the Lions in the 2003 PTC semifinals.

“We’ve been waiting for this since the start of the season, really since we lost to them in the playoffs last year,” Caldwell said.

The Witches used their running-back-by-committee to rush for 272 yards. Kevin McAvoy gained 39 yards in addition to returning a second-quarter kickoff 77 yards for a score, while Porter and Zack Wilson contributed 31 rushing yards apiece.

Garren Horne led Belfast with 119 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries, and Josh Aldus added 99 yards and a score on 17 tries. But Brewer did not yield the big play, as Belfast’s longest run from scrimmage was a 23-yard gain by Horne in the first quarter.

“We wanted to stay at home because Belfast has an offense that’s based upon counters and a lot of trickery,” said Brewer linebacker Chad Szylvain. “We knew we could line up against these guys, and we wanted to overpower them and attack the mesh points on their offense. They broke some runs, but we bent but didn’t break.”

After Francis scored to give Brewer the lead, a blocked punt by Jake Richter set up a 19-yard TD run by Littlefield with 1:08 left in the opening period.

That drive was extended when an interception by Belfast’s Josh Gallant was negated by an inadvertent whistle. Two plays after Littlefield’s TD, Wilson returned an interception 31 yards to give the Witches a 20-0 lead.

Horne got Belfast on the board on a 10-yard run with 1:10 left in the first half, but Brewer got a momentum-killing response from its special teams, as McAvoy took the ensuing kickoff up the middle, broke to his right and eluded the final tackler at the Belfast 40 to give the Witches a 26-6 lead at the break.

Belfast (3-2) took the second-half kickoff and drove 57 yards to score on a 6-yard run by Aldus, but Caldwell countered with a 2-yard scoring run with 31.7 seconds left in the period.

A Caldwell interception midway through the fourth quarter set up Brewer’s final score, a 2-yard run by Wilson.

“We just wanted to come out and play our game,” said Szylvain. “We didn’t want to be intimidated, and it could have been easy to do because it’s on Belfast’s field and it’s their Homecoming. But we thought we were better than what people were saying. We like that underdog role.”

They are underdogs no more.

WITCHES 38, LIONS 12

Brewer (5-0) 20 6 6 6 – 38

Belfast (3-2) 0 6 6 0 – 12

Bre – Francis 24 pass from Porter (kick blocked)

Bre – M. Littlefield 19 run (rush failed)

Bre – Z. Wilson 31 interception return (McAvoy rush)

Bel – Horne 10 run (pass failed)

Bre – McAvoy 77 kick off return (rush failed)

Bel – Aldus 6 run (pass failed)

Bre – Caldwell 2 run (pass failed)

Bre – Z. Wilson 2 run (rush failed)

Brewer Belfast

First downs 10 13

Rushing att.-yards 37-272 52-213

Passing comp.-att. 1-2 2-8

Passing yards 24 0

Total yards 296 213

Punts-avg. 2-41 3-22.3

Fumbles-lost 4-1 3-1

Intercepted by 2 1

Penalties-yards 5-35 3-20

Rushing

Brewer: M. Littlefield 6-96, Caldwell 10-58, McAvoy 7-39, Porter 6-31, Z. Wilson 5-31, Kingsbury 1-18, Peasley 1-0, Adams 1-(-1); Belfast: Horne 16-119, Aldus 17-99, N. Littlefield 1-4, Whalen 14-2, Cross 1-1, Nadeau 1-(-6), Bernosky 2-(-6)

Passing

Brewer: Porter 1-1-0-24, McAvoy 0-1-1-0; Belfast: Whalen 2-8-2-0

Receiving

Brewer: Francis 1-24; Belfast: Horne 2-0

A-1,250 (est.)