BREWER, Maine — The Brewer High School football team likely will reveal few surprises this fall.
Coach Nick Arthers’ club will seek to assert its physicality at the line of scrimmage to anchor an aggressive defense and a punishing rushing attack featuring senior halfback Trey Wood.
That philosophy was on full display at Doyle Field on Friday night as Wood rushed for 172 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries as the Witches knocked off Bangor 22-0 in the 105th edition of their cross-river rivalry.
The exhibition victory was the second straight for Class B Brewer over Class A Bangor, which leads the overall series between the schools that began in 1903 by a 75-22-8 count.
“It was an excellent job by our guys,” said Brewer coach Nick Arthers. “There were a couple of mistakes here and there that I think we can fix with some reps in practice, but I’m very happy with our enthusiasm and toughness. I thought we flew around the ball all night.
“The offense made a bunch of very good adjustments in the second half and our blocking improved tremendously. It was just a very fun game overall.”
Brewer finished with 229 of its 265 total yards on the ground, with senior Garrett Ireland supporting Wood’s effort with 52 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries behind the blocking of fullback Zac Duncan, tackles Garrett Graham and Tyler Bean, guards Austin Lufkin and Lucas McLaughlin, center Zach Steiger and ends Jacob McCluskey and Pedro Rodriguez.
“That’s what we’ve been preaching all year,” said Arthers. “We committed ourselves to the weight room, we had a ton of kids in there over the summer. We wanted to get stronger because we knew we weren’t going to be a real finesse team with the pass game, we were going to be ground and pound and we’re getting there.
“We’ve still got a lot to work on but we’re making great strides and looking forward to the rest of the season.”
Brewer also did the job defensively with Lufkin, Wood and company limiting a youthful Bangor offense to 83 total yards, including just 29 rushing yards.
Bangor’s effort was hampered by the loss of starting junior halfback Luke Tuell early in the second half to an apparent knee sprain. Senior Noah White paced the Rams with 32 yards on nine second-half rushes, while junior Nick Canarr added 23 yards.
Senior quarterback Gary Farnham, a first-year starter, completed 6 of 14 passes for 54 yards.
“At the end of the day we’ve got a new quarterback, two new backs, really three new backs with Noah in there, and what it came down to is that you have to get your feet wet and grow a little bit,” said Bangor coach Alan Mosca. “And the thing about high school sports is you have to do it quick because we’ve got a game that counts next week.”
Both teams open their regular seasons on the road next weekend, Bangor at Edward Little of Auburn on Friday night and Brewer at Nokomis of Newport on Saturday afternoon.
Brewer broke on top midway through the first quarter when senior captain Tyler Hafford returned a punt 41 yards for a touchdown.
Hafford muffed the punt return at first, but picked the ball up in the center of the field and found his way to the left sideline. Farnham, the Bangor punter, challenged him at the 15-yard-line but Hafford eluded the tackle and raced into the end zone.
Ireland’s two-point conversion rush gave Brewer an 8-0 lead it carried into halftime.
The Witches extended that margin at the start of the second half on a 46-yard drive set up by Jack Corey’s long kickoff return.
Wood ran for 39 yards on first down, with only a saving tackle by Tuell at the Bangor 7 preventing a touchdown.
Ireland scored from the 4 two plays later to make it 14-0.
Brewer drove 70 yards for its final touchdown late in the fourth quarter after Corey recovered a Bangor fumble.
Junior quarterback Cody Wood, making his first start for the Witches, hit Duncan with a screen pass on third-and-10 that went for 28 yards to the Bangor 42.
The Witches went the rest of the way in grind-it-out fashion, churning seven more minutes off the clock before Wood scored from the 1 with 1:27 left.
“I liked how we played for the majority of the game,” said Mosca. “I thought toward the end of the game they got us a little bit. I’m proud of the kids and the way they fought, but we also need to be able to finish the game, truthfully. I think that’s a fair thing to say.”
