BREWER – Inch by inch.

That’s been the motto that the Brewer football team has lived by this week in preparing for Friday night’s Eastern Maine Class B semifinal against Leavitt of Turner.

And that’s just how the scrappy No. 1 Witches earned a 27-6 victory over the No. 4 Hornets at Doyle Field and their first berth in a championship game in what is believed to be at least 30 years.

Brewer, now 9-1, will face the winner of this afternoon’s semifinal between No. 2 Winslow and No. 3 Belfast for the Eastern Maine Class B next weekend.

“We clawed, and we did everything we needed to score,” said a visibly elated Brewer coach Ed Ortego, whose team scored 21 unanswered second-half points. “Once we did that [in the third quarter] we took control of the game. It was a mental thing, just getting after it. They got it done inch by inch.”

Slowly but surely, Brewer moved down the field in a third-quarter drive that chewed up nearly nine minutes, capped by Ben Caldwell’s first touchdown run of the game, and then shut down Leavitt’s potent passing attack with some key sacks and interceptions.

The Witches went to Caldwell and Matt Littlefield during the third-quarter drive in part because of the defense Leavitt’s Tyler Angell played on Brewer running back Kevin McAvoy.

“[Angell] kept tripping him up and he didn’t know what to do,” Ortego said. “He’s explosive but he’s not a natural runner and that guy was a pretty good safety.”

Brewer, which won the opening toss and chose to defer to the second half, opened the third quarter with the ball at its own 34-yard line. Slowly but surely the Witches moved the chains, converting five first downs, including a third-and-7 situation in which quarterback Ricky Porter reeled off a 9-yard run to get to the Brewer 46.

Later in the drive, Porter gave the ball to Caldwell on fourth-and-1 from the Leavitt 11. Caldwell bulled his way to a 3-yard gain. Two plays later he was in the end zone, McAvoy kicked the extra point, and the Witches had a 13-6 lead.

“Matt and Ben were amazing, getting a first down when we needed it, hanging on to the ball,” Porter said.

Leavitt got the ball back but not for long, as Littlefield picked up a fumble by Hornet quarterback Matt Cote. Porter fumbled the ball on the next play, but McAvoy recovered it, setting up a 21-yard Porter pass to Drew Francis to put Brewer at the Leavitt 10.

“We were looking for a 3-and-out to get good field position for a touchdown, but I happened to be in the right place at the right time,” Littlefield said of his fumble recovery.

McAvoy and Porter combined to get Brewer to the Leavitt 3, and Caldwell ran the ball in for a 19-6 lead with one second left in the third.

The Hornets went 3-and-out to open the fourth quarter – Cote was sacked twice for a loss of 18 yards – and a weak punt gave Brewer excellent field position at the Leavitt 19. The Witches sputtered a bit with a penalty and incomplete passes, but McAvoy tossed a 22-yard option touchdown pass to Porter.

Cote was sacked twice more by Littlefield in the fourth quarter. The Hornet senior, who completed three of his six passes for 50 yards in the first half, was 2-for-7 for 13 yards in the second. He also threw two interceptions in the second half, both of which were picked off by Zack Wilson.

“We had to change our technique,” Ortego said of Brewer’s defense against the pass. “They’re bigger than us and we were playing too high. We were looking for the ball because they have good deception. Heck with that, you’re gonna beat your man first and then go for the ball. We made that adjustment and the line did great.”

Things looked promising for Brewer early after the Witches recovered a fumble on Leavitt’s opening drive, and Porter ran for 52 yards and a touchdown on the Witches’ first play from scrimmage.

But the Hornets reeled off an 81/2-minute, 91-yard drive, capped by a 1-yard run by Anthony Witham (team-high 14 carries on 66 yards) to tie it up. Neither team converted the extra point and went into the locker room with a 6-6 tie – similar to the 0-0 halftime score in their regular-season matchup two weeks ago.

“We had to refocus,” Littlefield said. “Our captain Chad Szylvian said we weren’t ready to give up. We got pumped and ready to go.”

WITCHES 27, HORNETS 6

Leavitt (5-5) 6 0 0 0 – 6

Brewer (9-1) 6 0 13 8 – 27

B – Porter 52 run (rush failed)

L – A. Witham 1 run (rush failed)

B – Caldwell 1 run (McAvoy kick)

B – Caldwell 1 run (kick blocked)

B – Porter 22 pass from McAvoy (Turmelle pass from Porter)

Leavitt Brewer

First downs 9 10

Rushing att.-yards 35-85 40-183

Passing comp.-att. 5-13 3-7

Passing yards 63 60

Total yards 148 243

Punts-avg. 1-27 3-27.6

Fumbles-lost 5-3 5-2

Intercepted by 0 3

Penalties-yards 5-35 6-60

Rushing

Leavitt: A. Witham 14-66, Hardacker 10-53, Brewer 5-1, Cote 6-(minus 35); Brewer: Porter 6-69, Z. Wilson 9-48, Littlefield 5-26, Richter 2-21, Caldwell 6-13, Kingsbury 2-4, McAvoy 10-2

Passing

Leavitt: Cote 5-13-3-63; Brewer: Porter 2-5-0-38, McAvoy 1-1-0-22, Peasley 0-1-0-0

Receiving

Leavitt: Boulay 2-19, C. Witham 1-33, A. Witham 1-7, Brewer 1-4; Brewer: Francis 2-38, Porter 1-22

A-600 (est.)