Panthers capitalize on chances, top Brewer in early showdown

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WATERVILLE – Two teams expected to be among the contenders for the Pine Tree Conference Class B football title lived up to that billing Saturday at Drummond Field. But Waterville converted two Brewer turnovers and a blocked punt into touchdowns to edge the Witches 26-20.

“They’re in a little better shape right now of running the ballgame better,” said Brewer coach Ed Ortego of Waterville. “We’re working very hard at it, but we’re not quite there yet.”

Brewer (1-1) outgained Waterville 276-243 in total yardage, with all of the Witches’ yards coming on the ground. But the Purple Panthers capitalized on short-field opportunities, scoring three touchdowns on drives of 3, 11 and 29 yards.

“A lot of things happened during the game,” said Waterville sophomore quarterback Dan Hussey, “and we just happened to make some good conversions out of them with turnovers and a blocked punt. Turnovers were the key, I think.”

Hussey rushed for 70 yards and a touchdown and passed for 48 yards and another score, and used his ballhandling ability to keep the Brewer defense off balance for much of the day.

“We like to play fast, and I felt like we were playing slow the whole game because we were having a hard time figuring out where the ball was,” said Ortego. “We were getting better and better at it, but the short fields really did us in.”

Tyler Madore added 79 rushing yards for Waterville, while fullback Jon Hart had 46 yards and two TD runs.

“This was a big game for us, and neither team wanted to come out flat because we did so well last week with a couple of big wins,” said Hart. “We really stepped our game up. It was a physical battle, and I’m glad we came out on top.”

Brewer got 130 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries from Ricky Porter, who played mostly quarterback but also saw time at wingback. Zach Wilson added 94 yards and a score on 10 rushes, while Ben Caldwell had 52 yards on nine tries.

Waterville (2-0) drove to the Brewer 6 with its opening possession before Madore fumbled and Brewer’s Matt Wilson recovered. The Witches then marched to the Waterville 25 before Hart stopped Porter for a 1-yard gain on fourth-and-4.

Waterville then went 76 yards during a 16-play drive that consumed 7 minutes, 46 seconds, scoring when Hussey found tight end Barrett Moore open with a 13-yard TD pass for a 6-0 lead with 8:41 left in the first half.

A 35-yard kickoff return by Ricky Adams led to a 7-yard scoring run by Porter 2:35 later, and Dan Juilli kicked the extra point to give Brewer a 7-6 lead.

Waterville regained the lead before intermission, aided by two Brewer fumbles. The first was recovered by Paul LePage at the Brewer 18, but the Witches stopped Waterville on downs at the 9.

But Brewer fumbled again on the next play and Waterville’s Chris Smith recovered at the 3. Hart scored from a yard out on third down with 38 seconds left, and Hussey passed to Madore for a two-point conversion to give Waterville a 14-7 halftime lead.

Brewer crept within 14-13 on a 40-yard run by Zach Wilson midway through the third quarter, but the extra-point kick was blocked. Another blocked kick, this a Brewer punt blocked by John Ringer, gave Waterville the ball at the 11, and Hussey soon scored from 2 yards out as the Panthers took a 20-13 lead with 2:36 left in the third.

“One-third of your plays are special teams, so to block a punt and get good field position out of it and score was big,” said Waterville coach Frank Knight.

Hussey returned an interception 25 yards to the Brewer 29 to set up the Purple Panthers’ final score, a 5-yard run by Hart with 1:45 left in the game. Porter added a 13-yard TD run with 39 seconds left.

“We try to look at games each week and not look at the big picture, but this is one of the tougher teams we’re going to play,” said Knight.

PANTHERS 26, WITCHES 20

Brewer (1-1) 0 7 6 7 – 20

Waterville (2-0) 0 14 6 6 – 26

W-Moore 13 pass from Hussey (kick failed)

B-Porter 7 run (Juilli kick)

W-Hart 1 run (Madore pass from Hussey)

B-Z. Wilson 40 run (kick blocked)

W-Hussey 2 run (kick failed)

W-Hart 5 run (kick failed)

B-Porter 13 run (Juilli kick)

Brewer Waterville

First downs 12 18

Rushing att.-yards 38-276 55-195

Passing att.-comp. 0-7 3-5

Passing yards 0 48

Total yards 276 243

Punts-avg. 3-31.7 3-33.0

Fumbles-lost 2-2 4-2

Intercepted by 0 1

Penalties-yards 6-41 3-20

Rushing

Brewer: Porter 15-130, Z. Wilson 10-94, Caldwell 9-52, Adams 3-1; Brown 1-(minus 1); Waterville: Madore 20-79, Hussey 21-70, Hart 11-46

Passing

Brewer: Porter 0-7-1-0 ; Waterville: Hussey 3-5-48-0

Receiving

Brewer: none; Waterville: Moore 2-32, Allen 1-16

A-500 (est.)