WINSLOW – Brewer and Winslow began the high school football season on the same plane – two teams with a lot of top-notch athletes, but with limited varsity experience.

They ended the regular season on a fairly even plane, too, holding the top two spots in the Pine Tree Conference Class B standings.

But it’s Winslow that will carry the most momentum into the playoffs thanks to a 20-14 victory over the Witches on Saturday at Poulin Field.

“It was a great football game,” said Brewer football coach Ed Ortego. “They don’t lose many on their field, we haven’t beaten them there since the ’80s. It was a big opportunity, and we’re really disappointed. But shoot, they’re playing well.”

Brewer had hoped to finish the regular season unbeaten, but was thwarted by a tenacious Winslow team that never trailed and made fewer mistakes.

Brewer outgained Winslow by 15 yards (246-231), but three turnovers and six penalties were hard for the Witches to overcome.

“Most of it was on us,” said Ortego. “We didn’t protect the ball very well. I thought our defense played a decent game. We made some big stops most of the time when we had to, but we missed a lot of tackles.”

Sophomore tailback Justin Lindie paced Winslow with 92 rushing yards on 15 carries, while sophomore quarterback Steven Siviski completed 6 of 10 passes for 60 yards and a touchdown.

“Our ground game and our play-action passes were good enough,” said Winslow coach Mike Siviski. “I was very proud of our defense because [Brewer’s] been scoring a lot of points, and I was very proud of our offense because their defense is really the No. 1 defense in our league.”

Brewer (8-1) retains the No. 1 seed for the PTC playoffs and will host No. 4 Leavitt of Turner Center (5-4) in next weekend’s semifinals. No. 2 Winslow (7-2) will host No. 3 Belfast (6-3) next Saturday.

A 3-yard sneak by Steven Siviski with 4:47 left in the game provided the winning points, capping off a 61-yard drive after Brewer had forged a 14-14 tie on the previous series when Zack Wilson scored on a 5-yard run.

Wilson’s touchdown was set up when Kevin McAvoy outmuscled Winslow’s Eric Lopez for a pass interception and returned it 57 yards to the Black Raiders’ 33 with six seconds left in the third quarter.

Brewer still harbored hopes for a victory when Winslow place-kicker Ben Poulin missed the extra point after Siviski’s score – just his second miss in 34 tries this year – but the Witches couldn’t advance the ball past midfield, and the Black Raiders then ran out the final 2:05.

Brewer held the ball for the first 6:19 of the game, until Lopez made a one-handed interception of a Ricky Porter pass at the goal line.

Winslow then gained the field-position edge on a 51-yard punt by Lindie that teammate Jared Maroon downed at the Brewer 4.

Brewer soon had to punt from its end zone, and Winslow got the ball at the Witches’ 36. It took the Black Raiders two plays to score, with Lindie breaking off a 29-yard run before scoring from 7 yards out to give Winslow a 7-0 lead on the first play of the second quarter.

Brewer later drove inside the Winslow 20, but an illegal procedure penalty and a fumble recovered by the Witches left them with fourth-and-2 from the 16, where Winslow’s Andy Poulin stopped Porter short on a quarterback keeper.

The Witches tied the game on a 1-yard sneak by Porter with 23.7 seconds left in the half. The score was set up one play earlier when Mitch Peasley made a diving catch between two defenders of a McAvoy halfback option pass.

Winslow regained the lead late in the third quarter, after an exchange of fumbles by the Raiders’ Ryan Lindie and Brewer’s Matt Littlefield, as Siviski floated a 5-yard scoring pass to Lopez in the right corner of the end zone with 2:32 left in the period.

BLACK RAIDERS 20, WITCHES 14

Brewer (8-1) 0 7 0 7 – 14

Winslow (7-2) 0 7 7 6 – 20

W – J. Lindie 7 run (Poulin kick)

B – Porter 1 run (McAvoy kick)

W – Lopez 5 pass from Siviski (Poulin kick)

B – Z. Wilson 4 run (McAvoy kick)

W – Siviski 3 run (kick failed)

Brewer Winslow

First downs 11 11

Rushing att.-yards 46-201 44-171

Passing comp.-att. 3-8 6-10

Passing yards 45 60

Total yards 246 231

Punts-avg. 3-34.7 2-50.5

Fumbles-lost 6-2 1-1

Intercepted by 1 1

Penalties-yards 6-50 2-10

Rushing

Brewer: Littlefield 11-61, McAvoy 12-43, Porter 9-37, Z. Wilson 8-31, Caldwell 6-29; Winslow: J. Lindie 15-92, R. Lindie 17-33, Goulette 2-28, Siviski 9-10, Maroon 1-8

Passing

Brewer: Porter 2-6-1-10, McAvoy 1-2-0-35; Winslow: Siviski 6-10-1-60

Receiving

Brewer: Peasley 1-35, Francis 1-8, Z. Wilson 1-2; Winslow: J. Lindie 2-33, Lopez 2-12, Pellerin 1-16, R. Lindie 1-(minus 1)

A-1,000 (est.)