Lines key Brewer, Foxcroft attacks Strong play up front spearheads running game for Witches, Ponies

They boast two of the deepest and most explosive rushing attacks in Maine, a major reason the Brewer and Foxcroft Academy football teams will play for state championships Saturday at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.

Eastern B champ Brewer, which faces York in a 2:30 p.m. start, features the speed of senior quarterback Ricky Porter, the strength of senior fullback Ben Caldwell and senior running back Zach Wilson’s combination of those two qualities.

Eastern C champ Foxcroft, which plays Lisbon at 6 p.m., has a similar blend of talents led by senior tailback Joey Caparrelli and senior fullback James McPhee.

Brewer has already topped 3,000 rushing yards in 11 games, while Foxcroft is nearing that mark, thanks in part to offensive lines that were works in progress when these teams met in a preseason scrimmage.

Brewer returned just one starter along the line in senior tackle Jamie Ecker, a converted guard. Center Zach Sherry and guard Matt Wilson saw some duty on the offensive line a year ago and were poised to step up to full-time duty and help lead the way.

“The guys last year had a lot of JV reps, so they knew what they were doing,” said Ecker. “It actually worked out a lot better than I thought it would. The first couple of scrimmages we had some screw-ups, but after that we started playing like we should.”

Brewer’s line has not evolved without change, the final adjustments made after the Witches lost to Winslow late in the regular season. Junior Devin Fitzpatrick moved into the lineup at right tackle, joining Ecker at left tackle, Wilson at left guard, Sherry at center and senior Matt Cormier at right guard.

Since then, Brewer is 4-0, including a 21-10 win at Winslow in the Eastern B final.

“We had some personnel changes after the [first] Winslow game, so up through that point we were still looking for the best matches,” said Brewer coach Ed Ortego. “We were trying to find the best way to become more consistent, not necessarily dominant, but more consistent.”

Brewer’s line is not huge- averaging 221 pounds – but their efforts already has produced one 1,000-yard back in Porter, while Zach Wilson (998 yards) and Caldwell (907) both are near that mark.

“A lot of it was just knowing your position,” said Sherry. “At the beginning of the season we were more or less looking at the line as a whole, and not as center, guard and tackle. Each position has different responsibilities, and they have to be fulfilled every play.”

Like Brewer, Foxcroft had an offensive line of question marks as the season began.

“Going into the season I can honestly say we had Josh Pelletier as an offensive tackle and then … I didn’t have any idea who was going to play,” said Foxcroft coach Paul Withee. “I knew we had some good junior players, but they just needed to develop and have some confidence in their ability.”

Four juniors did emerge, as center Tim Nason, guard Adam Dow and tackle Bill Macomber all moved up from the JV ranks, while David White shifted from backup fullback to starting guard after the Brewer scrimmage.

Led by Pelletier, the Foxcroft line has experienced steady improvement.

“He’s our leader, there’s no question about it,” Macomber said. “There was one week when he didn’t play, and it was a little different. It was good to get some experience without him in there, but he’s definitely the leader of the line.”

The group gained an early dose of confidence in Week 3 of the season when it held its own against an experienced Bucksport line in a 49-16 victory.

“They had one of the best lines we’d seen, and we played pretty well,” said Nason. “We knew how big of a game that was. We were pretty psyched about that game because they beat us last year in the Eastern Maine game and there was a little revenge there.”

Perhaps the best evidence of how far Foxcroft’s offensive line has come came last weekend, when the Ponies spent much of the day running behind Macomber and Dow – and away from Pelletier’s side – with considerable success in their 28-14 win over Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln in the Eastern C final.

“We kept running to that side because it kept working,” said Pelletier.

Now, for a group that began the season with the modest hope of getting some playing time, Foxcroft’s junior linemen are one win away from joining some of the greats in the program’s history as state champs.

“Any time you take some kids like that who are willing to work hard and have that desire to improve, only good things will happen,” said Withee, who also credits assistant coaches Gary Worthing and Jarod Young for the line’s development.