BREWER – With the Eastern Class B semifinal deadlocked at halftime, it became apparent that the team that made the least mistakes in the wind and cold of Doyle Field would advance to the next round.

That team turn out to be the Brewer Witches, who stormed past fourth-ranked Leavitt 27-6 Friday night.

“We had to stop shooting ourselves in the foot,” said Brewer coach Ed Ortego, “We put the ball on the ground four times in the first half.” Brewer (9-1) scored on its first play from scrimmage. Junior quarterback Ricky Porter ran the option play to perfection, sprinting around left end and avoiding two Leavitt tacklers as he sprinted down the left sideline for a 52-yard touchdown.

Leavitt (5-5) answered with its only scoring drive of the night – a 16-play, 66-yard drive. The key play was a 33-yard pass completion from quarterback Matt Cote to Corey Witham on fourth-and-one. Senior Tony Witham punched it in from a yard out to tie the game at 6-6.

Brewer took the second half kickoff and marched 66 yards in 16 plays for the go-ahead touchdown.

Starting from its 34-yard line, Brewer moved down the field behind the running of Zack Wilson and Matt Littlefield before Ben Caldwell scored on a 2-yard plunge to give Brewer the lead.

The Hornets gave the ball right back on a fumble and Brewer needed four plays to take control of the game. Once again Caldwell scored from 4 yards out for a 19-6 Brewer lead. Brewer scored the game’s final touchdown on an option pass play when Porter pitched the ball to Kevin McAvoy, who threw a 22-yard scoring strike to Wilson.

Brewer will host next week’s Eastern final against the winner of the No. 3 Belfast and No. 2 Winslow on Saturday.

An emotional Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway embraced each senior member of his team after the game.

“This is a good group of kids,” he said. “No one gave them a chance to make the playoffs at the start of the season.”