BREWER, Maine — The Brewer Witches wasted little time re-asserting themselves Friday night while rebounding from their lone loss of the high school football season.
Coach Nick Arthers had his club forego a punt when facing fourth down three plays into its game against Cony of Augusta, and that early display of confidence was well rewarded with a 50-12 homecoming victory at Doyle Field.
Senior halfback Dylan Severance converted that fourth-down rushing attempt and three plays later the 4-1 Witches were in the end zone en route to 28 first-quarter points that essentially put the game away.
“These guys are starting to gain a lot of confidence,” said Arthers, whose team awaits a showdown against undefeated Brunswick next Friday night. “The backs have confidence in the line up front and we feel like we can convert on any down as long as we stick with our blocks and do what we’re supposed to do.”
Brewer ground out 322 rushing yards, with Severance gaining 180 yards on 19 attempts that included second-half scoring runs of 5 and 3 yards.
Senior quarterback Logan Rogerson added 101 yards and two touchdowns on just four rushes as the Witches emphatically bounced back from a 21-14 loss at Skowhegan.
“Our guys came in really focused over the course of the week,” said Arthers. “They really took the loss to heart and wanted to buckle down and get back to work and get back on the winning track.”
Brewer’s defense was at least equally productive as its offense, particularly junior Austin Lufkin, who was credited with 3½ of his team’s seven quarterback sacks along with one forced fumble and two pass knockdowns.
“He’s probably one of the strongest kids on the team and along with that is probably one of the quickest kids we have,” said Arthers. “I was real pleased with how he played tonight. He’d been kind of sitting back in some of the earlier games but he really stuck out tonight, he really stepped up.”
Teaming along the defensive front with Cam Green, Zach Caron and Garrett Ireland, Lufkin also harassed Cony quarterback Taylor Heath into a pass interception midway through the first quarter that Tyler Friel returned 35 yards for a touchdown.
“We wanted to come out hard and real aggressive and put pressure on their quarterback because they had some good wide receivers and their quarterback had a good arm,” said Lufkin.
Heath did have a 17-for-31 passing night for 182 yards and two touchdowns, but 2-3 Cony finished with minus-27 yards on the ground thanks in part to 50 yards in losses on quarterback sacks.
Anthony Brunelle had nine catches for 114 yards and a touchdown for the Rams.
Cony was without leading receiver Jordan Roddy (broken finger) and top rusher and tackler Reid Shostak (suspended after being ejected from last week’s game against Lawrence of Fairfield), but it may not have made any difference the way Brewer took early control.
