BELFAST – Friday night’s Pine Tree Conference Class B regular season battle between Brewer and Belfast felt more like a playoff game since a win meant home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Brewer scored on its first two possessions and shut Belfast out for the first 19 minutes, but the Lions roared back in the second half and made Brewer gut out a hard-fought 20-14 victory on a crisp, clear, and cold October night at Bryant Field.

The visiting Witches looked like they’d fly away from the Lions early on as they recovered a Belfast fumble three plays into the game and – after an illegal formation penalty – scored on Ben Caldwell’s 61-yard touchdown run 2 minutes, 12 seconds after the opening kickoff.

What began as a potential laugher came down to a big Brewer defensive stand with Belfast knocking on the door to score with five minutes left to play.

The Lions began their final drive 52 seconds into the fourth quarter. A 21-yard punt return by Marcus Nadeau, nine plays, 50 yards, and 5:38 later, the Lions had a first-and-goal at Brewer’s 7-yard line.

Brewer linebacker Jamie Ecker and cornerback Phil Turmelle stuffed Lions tailback Sean Leeman – who racked up 150 yards on 34 carries to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark for the season – for a 1-yard gain on first down. Cornerback Ricky Adams and linebacker Ben Caldwell rode him down for no gain on the next play.

The Lions then were called for an illegal motion penalty – just their second penalty of the game – to make it third-and-goal from the 11. Quarterback Andy Whalen tried to find daylight on the left side but was stopped for no gain by Caldwell and Ecker.

On fourth down, Whalen scrambled right after being flushed from the pocket and zipped a pass into the end zone in Zach Carr’s direction, but Carr fell down and the ball sailed right into the arms of Turmelle for an interception. Brewer then ran out the last 4:42 with an 11-play, 52-yard drive.

“This is a big win for us,” said head coach Ed Ortego, whose Witches are now 6-2. “We broke ourselves a few times with penalties and miscues, but we were able to overcome it at the end.”

The Witches were whistled nine times for 70 yards in penalties but were able to overcome it thanks to a career-best game by Caldwell at fullback. The senior captain carried the ball 16 times for 207 yards. Caldwell credited the offensive line of center Zach Sherry, guards Matt Cormier and Matt Wilson, and tackles Ecker and Devin Fitzpatrick for leading the way.

“Our line has been drilling constantly – at least an hour a day with line blocking,” he said. “Everyone knew who they were blocking no matter what kind of defense they came at us with.”

Brewer averaged 8.9 yards per carry en route to 363 total rushing yards.

“We had a nice plan for them and I don’t think they hurt us a lot outside, but Caldwell beat us in the middle,” said Butch Arthers, co-head coach of the 5-3 Lions. “They did a nice job picking off our linebackers and we were trying to stunt a little bit, but it wasn’t working.”

Brewer followed up its first scoring drive with a nine-play, 76-yard drive capped by Zach Wilson’s 3-yard TD run with 56 seconds left in the first quarter.

Belfast got on the board with a marathon drive covering 74 yards in 18 plays and 8 minutes, 13 seconds. Leeman ended it with a 2-yard TD run.

After a 37-yard punt return by Wilson, Brewer made it 20-8 with 6:57 left in the third on two runs by Caldwell (25 and 3 yards). Dan Juilli’s PAT kick was just wide to the left. Belfast answered on the next possession with an 11-play, 57-yard drive set up by a 27-yard kickoff return by Leeman and ended with a 22-yard TD pass from Whalen to Carr. Whalen tried to find a receiver in the right corner for a two-point conversion, but the pass sailed out of bounds.

It was Whalen who helped the Lions get their offense untracked. With Brewer keying on Leeman, Whalen scrambled for good yardage and effectively forced Brewer to shy off Leeman a bit.

“We knew who was going to get the ball, but their line blocked like hell,” said Caldwell. “Trust me, I know because I was getting a lot of it. We just weren’t going to give up, though.”

The win comes on the heels of a tough shutout loss to Winslow last week.

“It’s huge because we got shut out on senior night last time on our home field and we just wanted to show we were for real,” Caldwell said.

WITCHES 20, LIONS 14

Brewer (6-2) 14 0 6 0 – 20

Belfast (5-3) 0 8 6 0 – 14

Br – Caldwell 61 run (Juilli kick)

Br – Z. Wilson 3 run (Juilli kick)

Be – Leeman 2 run (Whalen rush)

Br – Caldwell 3 run (kick failed)

Be – Carr 22 pass from Whalen (pass failed)

Brewer Belfast

First downs 14 16

Rushing att.-yards 41-363 53-213

Passing comp.-att. 0-3 3-6

Passing yards 0 44

Total yards 363 257

Punts-avg. 1-32.0 2-27.0

Fumbles-lost 3-0 2-2

Intercepted by 1 0

Penalties-yards 9-70 2-7

Rushing

Brewer: Caldwell 16-207, Porter 10-81, Z. Wilson 14-71, Ecker 1-4; Belfast: Leeman 34-150, Whalen 14-46, Walsh 3-14, Littlefield 2-3

Passing

Brewer: Adams 0-3-0-0; Belfast: Whalen 3-6-1-44

Receiving

Brewer: none; Belfast: Carr 1-22, Morse 1-16, Walsh 1-6

A-550 (est.)