TURNER CENTER – Jamie Ecker knew the challenge he and his fellow men in the trenches for the Brewer High football team faced Friday night.

But rather than shrink in the shadow of host Leavitt High’s front – the biggest in the Pine Tree Conference Class B ranks – the Witches ran right through it.

Third-seeded Brewer rushed for 286 yards on 49 carries to control the ball, the clock, and its own destiny in pounding out a 27-7 victory over the second-ranked Hornets in a PTC semifinal at Libby Field.

Zach Wilson led the way on this misty evening with 119 yards and two touchdowns on 19 rushes, while Ricky Porter added 96 yards and two fourth-quarter scores on 14 carries. Fullback Ben Caldwell contributed 57 yards and some punishing lead blocks to the cause, while the front line anchored by captains Ecker and Zach Sherry won the war at the point of attack.

“They were supposedly the biggest line in the state, so we used our speed against them,” said Ecker, a two-way tackle. “That was our main goal, to wear them down with our speed and our agility, and we did what we had to do.”

The win sends the 8-2 Witches to their second straight Eastern B championship game next weekend against the winner of today’s semifinal between No. 1 Winslow and No. 5 Waterville. Leavitt finished 8-2 after having its eight-game win streak ended.

“Our line made a lot of holes, and I don’t think they penetrated once the entire game,” said Brewer coach Ed Ortego. “We were just so solid on the offensive line, and that’s what we needed in this game. We felt we had more speed, so if we could at least hold them at bay, we’d find some holes.”

While Brewer’s offense churned out yardage, the Witches’ defense intercepted Leavitt quarterback Tyler Angell four times – by Phil Turmelle, James Butts, Ricky Adams, and Porter – and limited the 1,000-yard passer to an 8-for-21, 89-yard evening through the air.

“We just wanted to put pressure on their quarterback and make him scramble a lot, and we did that. He really didn’t know where he wanted to go with the ball,” said Wilson, a linebacker on defense. “We just got to him and hit him and wore him down.”

Brewer took the lead on its second possession, after Turmelle made his fourth interception of the season on a pass that deflected off the hands of Leavitt tight end Ben Boulay.

The Witches went 45 yards in seven plays, with Wilson taking a pitch 21 yards to the L-6 and scoring on the next play behind Caldwell’s lead block. Wilson’s two-point conversion run after a Leavitt penalty gave Brewer an 8-0 lead with 11:56 left in the first half.

Caldwell stopped Angell for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-one from the Brewer 35 to set up the Witches’ second score, an 18-yard run on a reverse by Wilson with 3:12 left in the half. A 27-yard pass from Ricky Adams to tight end Ryan Babin set up Wilson’s run, which featured a key downfield block from Brad Brown.

That 14-0 lead stood until the final minute of the third quarter, when Angell (21 carries, 90 rushing yards) scored on a 6-yard keeper and Chris Brewer kicked the extra point to pull the Hornets within 14-7. That run capped off a 6-minute, 13-second drive.

Then Porter, who had been relatively quiet to this point, took over the game.

Three plays after the subsequent kickoff, the senior found the right corner and blazed down the sideline for a 40-yard scoring run. Dan Juilli’s extra-point kick made it 21-7 with 10:23 left in the game.

Porter then intercepted an Angell pass in the left flat on Leavitt’s next possession to give Brewer the ball at the Hornets’ 20, and scored on a 2-yard keeper three plays later to put the game away.

“[Brewer’s] a hard team to stop because they can do a lot of things,” said Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway. “They ran the ball real well tonight and controlled the clock. Time of possession was a factor.

“Our kids did a good job to battle back in the second half, but you can’t give a team like that the ball and some short fields, and we did that a couple of times and that hurt us.”

WITCHES 27, HORNETS 7

Brewer (8-2) 0 14 0 13 – 27

Leavitt (8-2) 0 0 7 0 – 7

B-Z. Wilson 6 run (Z. Wilson rush)

B-Z. Wilson 18 run (pass failed)

L-Angell 6 run (Brewer kick)

B-Porter 40 run (Juilli kick)

B-Porter 2 run (kick blocked)

Brewer Leavitt

First downs 22 14

Rushing att.-yards 49-286 32-114

Passing comp.-att. 2-5 8-22

Passing yards 36 89

Total yards 322 203

Punts-avg. 1-7 2-25

Fumbles-lost 2-0 1-0

Intercepted by 4 2

Penalties-yards 7-48 5-55

Rushing

Brewer: Z. Wilson 18-119, Porter 14-96, Caldwell 11-57, Adams 6-14; Leavitt: Angell 21-90, Brewer 5-17, Proctor 1-2, McCann 2-2, Barker 1-2, Witham 1-1, Green 1-0

Passing

Brewer: Porter 1-3-1-9, Adams 1-2-1-27; Leavitt: Angell 8-21-4-89, Witham 0-1-0-0

Receiving

Brewer: Babin 1-27, Caldwell 1-9; Leavitt: Witham 3-48, Boulay 3-35, Millett 1-11, Brewer 1-(minus 5)

A-1,000