BREWER, Maine — The Brewer High School football team knows what it will be up against when undefeated Brunswick comes to town at 7 p.m. Friday.
His name is Will Bessey, and he is coming off an electrifying performance in which he rushed for 339 yards and six touchdowns on 29 carries in a 56-35 win over Skowhegan.
Now the 4-1 Witches will try to stop the talented and elusive senior running back and pull themselves into a tie for first in Class B North.
The 200-pound Bessey ran for 1,600 yards and 20 touchdowns a year ago to lead Brunswick to the regional title. This season, in addition to his rushing touchdowns, he has caught a touchdown pass, thrown a touchdown pass and returned an interception for a score.
The Witches know the high-scoring Dragons are susceptible to the pass as evidenced by Skowhegan quarterback Garrett McSweeney’s performance when he completed 30-of-47 passes for 441 yards and five touchdowns.
But they also know they must find a way to contain Bessey.
“If we stop Bessey, we stop Brunswick. He’s a big part of their offense,” said Brewer senior free safety-cornerback and quarterback Logan Rogerson.
“We have to wrap him up and gang tackle him,” said senior linebacker-running back Dylan Severance. “Our run defense has been amazing this year, and if we can shut down their running game, we can pretty much stop their offense.”
Junior linebacker Trey Wood said Bessey is “a real good running back. But we have a solid defensive line and a solid linebacking corps. I think we’ll do well.”
Brewer coach Nick Arthers called Bessey a “great athlete” but warned that Brunswick is more than a one-man show.
Last year’s game is fresh on the mind of the Witches, as the Dragons thumped Brewer 51-8.
“We thought we had a lot of confidence coming into that game, and they really put it to us,” said Arthers. “That stuck in the back of the minds of a lot of our guys. We’ve experienced success this season, and we really want to keep that going. We have the mindset that we can compete with anybody in this league.”
“We’ve got fire under our butts. We’re ready to go,” said Wood.
Brunswick has scored at least 35 points in all five games, and Brewer has held four of its five opponents to 13 points or less. Skowhegan scored 21 in its 21-14 win over Brewer.
Severance and Rogerson have been Brewer’s leading rushers with about 570 and 320 yards, respectively. Arthers pointed out that Rogerson’s yardage has been on just 30 carries.
Linebackers Severance, Wood, Danny Davis and Tyler Friel have been Brewer’s defensive standouts along with defensive end Austin Lufkin, who has a league-leading six sacks.
Other games include Maine Central Insitute (5-0) at Medomak Valley (4-1), Cheverus (3-2) at Bangor (1-4), Cony (2-3) at Hampden (1-4), Foxcroft (2-3) at Winslow (5-0), Hermon (0-5) at Oceanside (2-3), Houlton (2-3) at Ellsworth/Sumner (3-2), Mattanawcook (4-1) at Dexter (3-2), Messalonskee (3-2) at Skowhegan (4-1), Mount Desert Island (4-1) at Madison/Carrabec (3-2), Mount View (3-2) at Bucksport (2-3), Mt. Blue (4-1) at Nokomis (0-5), Old Town (5-0) at John Bapst (1-4), Orono (3-2) at Stearns (0-5) and Waterville (1-4) at Belfast (2-3).