HEAD STYLE: DROP21 – 21 POINT, 1 DECK, MINION-REGULARBDN95, PLAIN; 25; 5 COL

BODY SPEC: BODY TEXT; COLW: 16P11; DEPTH:8.18 (IN.)

BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY BRIDGET BROWN

“We didn’t watch other teams and worry about how they competed, we thought about what we were doing to get it done.”

Brewer’s Ali Caron

HERMON – The Brewer High School Witches showed lots of focus and plenty of heart in capturing the Big East Conference cheering title before a loud crowd of approximately 1,600 at Hermon High School Saturday night.

Brewer’s emphasis coming into the competition, after coming in second to Bangor last week at the Penobscot Valley Conference meet, was “competing with heart because we know we can do it, and our coach knows we can do it, and we just have to put heart into it,” junior Kristen Wood said.

Staying focused was another pivotal factor, Brewer junior Ali Caron added.

“We didn’t watch other teams and worry about how they competed, we thought about what we were doing to get it done,” Caron said.

Other team members leading Brewer to the title were Jessica Currier, Kelly Cyr, Dominique DeFilipp, Mackenzie DeGraff, Taylor DiFrederico, Jenna Duran, Tara Geaghan, Alicia Hallahan, Ashley Martin, Ashley Smith, Alycia Stevens, Kayla Triplett, Alexa Washburn, and Jewels Watson.

Bangor finished in second place with a score of 145.6.

Brewer had set a goal heading into the second round.

“Our strategy was to hit a clean routine, Brewer coach Kristie Reed said, “and our goal was actually to score a 154, and we got a 151.1, but we just wanted to hit a clean routine.”

Which was exactly what the Witches did. Brewer’s routine was filled with a lot of tumbling, sharp dances, and one-legged stunts such as libertys and heel stretches.

“Overall, I think [the routine is] pretty difficult. We’re known for difficult routines,” Wood said. “We had to drop down to three stunt groups, but it’s not too big of a deal because you can still do well with three stunt groups, because we definitely have a lot of difficulty.”

Hampden Academy finished third in the meet with 143.1 points and was followed by John Bapst of Bangor (143), Old Town (128.2), Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln (122.5) and Hermon (111.6).

Fourteen teams competed in the first round with the top seven advancing to the second round. Brewer also had the highest score in the first round, but Reed said the team’s second round was stronger.

“I think our energy was really good the second time around,” she said. “Timing, which is something we didn’t do well the first time went really well the second time.”

Reed added that the team limited its mistakes.

“Last week we went out making a lot of mistakes. And it’s always hard not necessarily to lose, but to not do your best,” she said. “So this week we really felt like they did their best.”

Bangor coach Stephanie Crane was pleased with her team’s efforts and is looking forward to next week’s Eastern Maine regional.

“We really worked on just trying to stick our stunts to the best of our ability. I think they were a little bit more sturdy but we still had some timing issues but it was better I think than last week,” she said.

“I saw some timing and some spacing issues we had to work on but as far as our stunts I think we did a lot better than last week,” she added.

Competing for Bangor were Hannah Bennett, Ashley Bigda, Jocelyn Christiansen, Maria Coffin, Sarah Coleman, Kristen Cote, Emily Cormier, Katie Cox, Chelsea Elston, Kalee Curshick, Stephanie Hesmer, Caitlyn Johnson, Katie Levielle, Courtney Maynard, Katie Soo, Nicole Stairs, Corrine Valincourt, and Abby Whitten.

The scores for the first round were: Brewer 150.6, Bangor 140.4, John Bapst 139.9, Hampden 134.7, Old Town 127.5, Mattanawcook 124.4, Hermon 134.7, Nokomis of Newport 114.9, Mount Desert Island 109.7, Ellsworth 108, Caribou 107.5, Bucksport 103.6, Foxcroft 101.7, and Presque Isle 97.3.