Witches backs casting spells Trio of Porter, Wilson and Caldwell key to Brewer’s success

BREWER – There are few secrets in the basics of Brewer High School’s approach to offensive football this fall.

The Witches have passed the ball an average of just 5.8 times per game, meaning the rest of the time they run – and run, and run.

It’s been a three-pronged approach to rushing success that has pushed Brewer to the brink of the program’s first state championship since 1970, and it’s an approach that has produced a rare, if not unprecedented, balance among those who carry the ball.

All three of Brewer’s starting backs, seniors Ricky Porter, Zach Wilson and Ben Caldwell, have a chance to end the season with more than 1,000 rushing yards.

Porter, the 5-foot-11, 173-pound quarterback who sometimes lines up at wingback, already has topped that standard, having rushed for 1,085 yards in 11 games entering Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. Class B state final against York at Portland’s Fitzpatrick Stadium.

Wilson, a 5-foot-11, 192-pound running back, enters that game with 998 yards, while Caldwell, a 5-foot-11, 209-pound fullback, has 907 yards on the ground.

Combined, that trio has amassed 2,990 yards and scored 38 touchdowns.

“I was wondering if that had been done before, to have three guys over 1,000,” said Brewer coach Ed Ortego, who will coach the Witches for the final time Saturday before returning to his Louisiana to reunite with his wife, a nursing professor at the University of Louisiana Lafayette.

“I’ve never seen that in Louisiana, either, because normally you’ll have two good guys but rarely do you have three with that many yards.”

One key to that collective success is that each back challenges opposing defenses with his unique style.

“We all do something a little different,” said Porter. “Zach is quick and just lowers his shoulder into people, he’s not afraid to run people over. Caldwell every play tries to find someone to run over. We were watching the [Winslow] game film and there was one play when he had the entire corner to run to the end zone and instead he found someone to run over. He had 15 yards between him and the end zone and the guy, and he chose the guy.

“I like to be shifty and run around people and get to the outside. Zach likes to juke people and run inside and run outside, and Ben likes to hit people, so we all have something a little different.”

Those differences provide Ortego and offensive coordinator-assistant head coach Dana Corey considerable variety in their play calling, if they so choose.

“Our offense is predicating on moving the ball around, hitting the defense in different positions,” said Ortego. “We take what we get, we don’t necessarily try to force the issue. We’re a read team on the field so we’re a read team on the sideline. We’re looking at what we think are the best presentations that we’re going to get.

“And we have some good players. It’s nice to have that variety where you have a speedster scatback [Porter] and a combination back [Wilson] and then a bruising fullback [Caldwell]. That’s lucky for us.”

York coach Randy Small has seen Brewer on film, and acknowledges the defensive challenges Brewer’s backfield presents.

“Brewer has tremendous speed, and when they run that option game you have to account for all three of them,” Small said. “We’ve faced some teams with one speed back here and there, but not three.”

Brewer is hopeful its team speed will be accentuated by the game site, the artificial surface at Fitzpatrick Stadium. The Witches practiced Wednesday at the Weatherbee School complex in Hampden, which has a FieldTurf surface identical to Fitzpatrick’s.

“It should help us,” said Porter. “We’ll be able to get our cuts down quicker and get people out of position quicker. Hopefully it will be a big advantage.”

Porter and his backfield mates also hope there is power in numbers, specifically the number of Brewer’s playmakers and the number of yards they can produce.

“I don’t think York’s seen an option team or a veer team, and that’s a pretty hard thing to organize your defense around,” he said. “They have a week to prepare for it, and I think it takes more than a week to prepare what we do.”