TURNER – The Brewer Witches found out the best way to shut down the multi-faceted offense of the Leavitt Hornets was to make it one dimensional.
Brewer used a power running game to keep the ball away from Tyler Angell and his offensive mates in churning out a 27-7 victory in an Eastern Maine Class B football playoff game Friday night.
Zach Wilson and Ricky Porter both rushed for a pair of scores as the third-seeded Witches (8-2) ran for 280 yards and had the No. 2 Hornets on their heels all night long.
“They kept our defense on the field a long time,” said Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway.
“That forced us to go for some plays. Normally, we like to grind it out.”
Wilson did much of the work in the first half by ripping off runs between the tackles. He picked up 60 of his game-high 116 yards in the half, including both of his scores.
“With the slick field,” said Brewer coach Ed Ortego referring to the conditions caused by the steady mist that fell all game long, “we went more to our power game. We gave it to the hosses.”
The Witches took the ball into the red zone on all three of their first-half possessions. Their first trip deep into Hornet territory ended with a missed field goal from 25 yards out by Dan Juilli. Their next two went for Wilson touchdowns.
Wilson capped a seven-play, 64-yard drive with 6-yard scoring run over the right side on the first play of the second quarter.
After the Witches stopped Angell on fourth-and-1, they went on a 64-yard scoring march. On second-and-18 from the Leavitt 18, Wilson got the call on a reverse, and went untouched for the score.
“Our offensive linemen were getting the holes out there and Zach Wilson was getting through the line like nobody was there,” said Porter who rushed for 94 yards.
While the Hornets came out and scored on their first drive of the second half on an Angell score from the 6, the Witches got touchdown runs of 39 and two yards from Porter on their next two possessions to put the game on ice.
In the second half, Angell rushed for 38 of his team’s 45 yards. He finished with 82 yards on the ground for the game. Most of the attempts after the break came on scrambles out of the pocket.
Forced to pass, Angell completed just eight of 21 passes and was intercepted four times.
“He’s real good at buying time,” said Ortego, “but we were able to react to where he was throwing.”
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