BREWER – The Brewer High School Witches were explosive during the regular season and continued that trend in the playoffs Monday night.

Senior center Reid McLaughlin had three goals and sophomore center Dylan Fitzpatrick had a pair of goals as the second-seeded Witches beat seventh-seeded Houlton-Hodgdon 8-3 in an Eastern Maine Class B hockey quarterfinal at the T.J. Ryan Center.

It was a rematch of last year’s Eastern B title game won by Brewer 3-2 in overtime.

Dave Perry added a goal and two assists; Ryan Nadeau and John Ambrose each had a goal and an assist and Jimmy Nicknair had two assists for the 18-3 Witches, who will now play third seed Winslow (16-5) in Saturday’s 8 p.m. semifinal at Sukee Arena in Winslow.

Taylor Martin, Josh McGuire, and Morgan Hall scored for Houlton-Hodgdon, which finished 10-10. Chris Howland had two assists.

“We made plays when we had to,” said McLaughlin. “With Prentiss [Swett] and Mike Kotredes out, we had some guys step up big. Dave Perry and John Ambrose played great.”

“They transitioned a lot better than we did,” said Houlton-Hodgdon coach Joel Trickey. “They were much quicker in transition.”

Senior defenseman McGuire added, “They outplayed us. They beat us to all the loose pucks.”

The game was closer than the score indicated, but Brewer had more team speed and created odd-man rushes off transition.

Brewer outshot Houlton-Hodgdon 26-21.

The Witches also benefited from a huge edge in experience between the pipes.

Brewer senior Aaron Saunders was sharp while Black Hawk freshman Levi Ledger, who played two periods, tailed off after a strong start.

After Nadeau tipped home an Ambrose wrister and Martin answered by tapping home a loose puck after Chris Howlan’d shot hit the side of the net, McLaughlin and Ambrose scored 2:48 apart late in the first period to snap a 1-1 tie.

McLaughlin broke down the right wing in a two-on-one with Tyler Coombs.

“Tyler called for the puck, but their defenseman played the pass. I looked up a couple of times to make sure [Coombs was covered], and then I shot it low to the far corner,” said McLaughlin.

Ambrose made it 3-1 by following up his wrister from the left point.

“It hit the goalie in the pads and I followed it up and shot it short side, top shelf. It ticked off his shoulder,” said Ambrose.

After McLaughlin and McGuire swapped early second-period goals, McLaughlin, Fitzpatrick, and Perry broke the game open over the final 7:26 of the period.

Perry chipped the puck to McLaughlin for a break-in, and McLaughlin put his shot low to the blocker side.

Fitzpatrick and Perry scored with wrist shots from the right circle that beat Ledger cleanly.

Saunders and Kayla Dunn teamed up for 18 saves while Houlton-Hodgdon’s Ledger and Curtis Libby also combined for 18.

WITCHES 8, BLACK HAWKS 3

Houlton-Hodgdon (10-10) 1 1 1 – 3

Brewer (18-3) 3 4 1 – 8

First period – 1. Brew, Nadeau (Ambrose, Risser), 7:15; 2. HH, Martin (Howland), 8:20; 3. Brew, McLaughlin (unassisted), 10:48; 4. Brew, Ambrose (unassisted), 13:36. Penalties: HH, J. McGuire, cross checking, 1:10; Brew, Relford, holding, 2:15.

Second period – 5. Brew, McLaughlin (Perry, Helfen), 2:53; 6. HH, J. McGuire (Carter), 3:19; 7. Brew, McLaughlin (Perry, Nicknair), 8:34; 8. Brew, Dy. Fitzpatrick (Nadeau), 10:10; 9. Brew, Perry (unassisted), 14:20 (sh). Penalties: Brew, Helfen, holding, 4:27; Brew, Relford, hooking, 12:03; Brew, Dy. Fitzpatrick, high sticking, 12:46; Brew, Relford, tripping, 14:50; HH, Chase, tripping, 14:50.

Third period – 10. HH, Hall (Howland), 10:35; 11. Brew, Dy. Fitzpatrick (Nicknair), 12:47 (pp). Penalties: Brew, De. Fitzpatrick, hooking, :39; HH, Matthews, elbowing, 3:43; HH, C. McGuire, hooking, 4:23; HH, Thompson, hitting from behind and 10-minute misconduct, 7:09; HH, Matthews, interference, 11:41; HH, Tapley, 10-minute misconduct, 11:41; HH, Hall, charging, 13:55.

Shots on goal: Houlton-Hodgdon 6-8-7-21; Brewer 9-7-10-26

Goaltenders: Houlton-Hodgdon, Ledger (16 shots-9 saves), Libby (0:00 of 3rd, 10-9); Brewer, Saunders (18-16), Dunn (7:09 of 3rd, 3-2)

Power-play opportunities: Houlton-Hodgdon 0 of 5, Brewer 1 of 6

Attendance: 225 (est.)