Brewer dominates Oxford Hills Bissell, McEwen, Murphy shine as Witches roll up 401 rushing yards

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BREWER – It was raining Orange-and-Black all over Doyle Field Friday night.

The Brewer football team used the mucky and sloppy conditions to its advantage, as nine ball carriers combined for 401 yards rushing while the Witches’ defense held Oxford Hills of South Paris to 130 net yards in earning a 36-0 triumph for their first victory since returning to the Class A ranks last fall.

“It’s a team win … it’s a team offense and it makes it a team win,” said Witches coach Don Farnham, whose club last won in 2006 while in Class B.

The Witches (1-1) fumbled the ball away on the first play of the game, but that didn’t faze them, as Pat McEwen ran around the right side of the Vikes’ eight-man front for a 23-yard touchdown run midway through the first.

Sean Murphy ran in the two-point conversion to give Brewer an 8-0 lead.

The Witches’ offensive line of tackles Jon Thoms and Matt Junkins, guards Brandon Carney and Matt Helfen, center Matt Demchak and tight ends Aaron Lacey and Eric McCarthy cleared massive holes for Murphy (7 carries, 73 yards, 2 TDs), Billy Bissell (10-130-1) and Pat McEwen (11-121-1) in Brewer’s double-wing attack.

Bissell and McEwen opened the floodgates in the second quarter, scoring on respective TD runs of 51 and 53 yards to give the Witches a 22-0 lead at the break.

“The big guys for us made wide holes for us and a couple times we had a wide-open hole to cut across the field,” said Bissell.

Murphy added a two-yard TD plunge and quarterback Coby Hutchins a 29-yard TD scamper in the third to cap the scoring.

“We’re a smashmouth team and we just like to pound the ball,” Thoms said.

Bissell added, “That’s what it is mostly, just to smash those linebackers out of the way and get into the open field.”

With the slippery conditions taking away Oxford Hills’ passing attack – the Vikings (0-2) came out in a spread formation – the Witches geared up to stop the run, keeping at least seven defenders up front throughout the game.

That tactic paid off, as the Vikings would only compile 105 yards on the ground.

“Half their offense was taken away by the weather. Once we realized it was hard to throw tonight, our kids pinned their ears back and really concentrated on the run game,” Farnham said.

The Vikings’ deepest offensive penetration was to the B-3 on their first possession of the second half, but Nate Dubois fumbled on a third-down play and the Witches recovered and drove 93 yards in 12 plays, capped by Murphy’s 2-yard TD.

“We’ve been on the other side with the turnovers, you feel for Oxford Hills, they had some things going and they would fumble. We’re just proud of the way [our] kids played,” Farnham said.

Brewer was well-prepared for the Vikes’ spread attack.

“We just practiced really hard and we had a good [scout] team that was really important for us, we just played hard,” Thoms said.

Brewer’s defense forced three turnovers, all fumbles.

After the rains subsided and the clocked ticked down, the jubilant Witches ran down to the far end of the field, tipped their helmets high and sang the school song as loud as they could.

“That was really cool, that’s what I wanted,” Bissell said. “It’s just great, everyone’s happy, the fans, [the] crowd, they were all waiting for this moment. That’s what I wanted, to get [some] wins this year.”

“This is definitely going to just pump us up for the next game,” added Thoms.

Dubois led Oxford Hills with 41 yards on 10 carries.

rmclaughlin@bangordailynews.net

990-8193

WITCHES 36, VIKINGS 0

Oxford Hills (0-2) 0 0 0 0 – 0

Brewer (1-1) 8 14 14 0 – 36

B – McEwen 34 run (Murphy rush)

B – Bissell 51 run (rush failed)

B – Murphy 53 run (Bush rush)

B – Murphy 2 run (Beller rush)

B – Hutchins 29 run (rush failed)

Oxford Hills Brewer

First downs 6 13

Rushing att.-yards 28-107 46-401

Passing comp.-att. 3-10 0-0

Passing yards 25 0

Total yards 132 401

Punts-avg. 5-24.4 0-0

Fumbles-lost 3-3 6-3

Intercepted by 1 0

Penalties-yards 6-40 4-28

Rushing

Oxford Hills: Dubois 10-41, Drew 7-4, Hall 4-13, Merz 3-36, Priest 2-16, Farnum 2-(minus-3); Brewer: Murphy 7-73, Bissell 10-130, McEwen 11-121, Hutchins 3-24, Bush 3-9, Beller 7-36, Briggs 1-(minus-4), Heath 1-5, Sinclair 3-7

Passing

Oxford Hills: Hall 0-4-1-0, Merz 3-6-0-25

Receiving

Oxford Hills: Dubois 3-25

A- 400 (est.)