SKOWHEGAN —You would think that one of these weeks the breaks would go Skowhegan’s way.

The Indians trailed Brewer by two touchdowns Friday night with less than seven minutes left in the game. Skowhegan improbably came back twice, and nearly three times, but Brewer escaped with a 14-12 Pine Tree Conference Class B football victory at Clark Field.

Brewer led 14-0 at halftime on a touchdown pass from Logan Rogerson to Austin Pagnozzi and a 5-yard run by Dylan Severance. Rogerson rushed for 117 yards on eight carries, while Severance carried the ball 16 times for 79 yards.

At the beginning of the halftime festivities, a male streaker dashed across the field. This seemed to inspire the Skowhegan defense, which twice stopped Brewer on downs inside the Indians’ 20-yard-line.

The Indians did this without star linebacker Gus Benson, who sat out the second half with an injury.

“They’re thinking possibly something with his knee,” Skowhegan coach Matt Friedman said. “He’s going to get tested on Monday. It was precautionary, definitely, to keep him out the second half. It changes us a lot, physically, on defense, but I was proud of the younger kids who stepped up. They played pretty well against a team that was physically superior to us.”

Advertisement

Friedman said Skowhegan also had two injuries on offense.

“We had a couple guys banged up on the offensive line,” he said. “We had a starter who I found out earlier in the week had a concussion. One of our key backups had a concussion in the middle of the week. So we were a little thin, but we had some sophomores who had their first varsity experience, and they really played well.”

Twice in the first three quarters, Skowhegan drove inside the Brewer 30, only to lose the ball on downs. When the Indians took over at their own 13 in the fourth quarter, they still trailed 14-0 and there was only 7:26 left to play. Between the passing of new quarterback Garrett McSweeney and the running of Kaleb Brown (22 carries, 136 yards), Skowhegan drove for the touchdown in less than three minutes. Brown ran it in from the 2 with 4:42 to go, but the extra-point attempt was wide.

Skowhegan held Brewer and got the ball back at its own 15 with 2:28 remaining. Five plays later, McSweeney hit Eli Holland in stride with a bomb down the right sideline. The play went for 64 yards and a touchdown, and Skowhegan trailed 14-12 with 55.5 seconds left.

The Indians tried a swing pass to Brown for the two-point conversion, but it fell incomplete. After the Witches recovered the onside kick, Skowhegan held again and took over at its own 20 with 31.4 seconds left and no timeouts.

The Indians got as far as the Brewer 37 with the help of McSweeney’s 32-yard pass to Sam Baker, but McSweeney’s desperation pass on the last play of the game was intercepted.

Advertisement

McSweeney, a sophomore, played wide receiver in the first four games, and Friday was his first start at quarterback. After some early struggles, McSweeney completed seven of 14 passes for 163 yards in the fourth quarter.

“It’s week one of a pretty major change in our offense,” Friedman said. “We sputtered a little at first, but I think what you saw in the second half is hopefully what we have as things to come. And we’re still looking for ways to get Nathan (Morris) more involved in the offense,”

The loss puts the Indians at 2-4. They will likely need to win their final two games to have a shot at the playoffs.

“It’s up to Crabtree points,” Friedman said. “But I think if we’re 4-4 we have a puncher’s chance.”

Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243

mdifilippo@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @Matt_DiFilippo


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.