GARDINER — It’s been a rough start to the season for the Gardiner football team, which opened the season against three of the top teams in the Pine Tree Conference.

Friday night, the Brewer Witches were in town and showed why they’re one of the favorites in the PTC this year.

Rolling behind a big offensive line and 240-pound tailback Ray Wood, the Witches overpowered the Tigers 38-0 to run their record to 3-0. Brewer was even more impressive on defense, holding Gardiner (0-3) to a net of 16 yards and one first down.

“Even since last season when we lost to Brunswick, we’ve been just working extra hard,” Wood said. “We had a bunch of turnouts in the weight room and we started working really hard this summer.”

Wood rushed for 159 yards on 23 carries, scoring two touchdowns and rushing three two-point conversions. Zac Duncan, the team’s 220-pound fullback, rushed for 73 yards on 10 carries and a touchdown. Quarterback Cody Wood also tossed a 29-yard scoring pass to Jack Corey while Tyler Hafford scored on a counter play of 22 yards.

“They’ve got a good thing going,” Gardiner coach Joe White said. “They had a core group a few years ago. It’s kind of your reward for hard work in the weight room, offseason preparation. We want to emulate that.”

The Witches scored on their opening drive with Duncan ripping off a 26-yard run and Wood capping it with a 21-yard sweep around left end. Brewer’s offensive line pushed the smaller Tigers back 3 yards a play, allowing the two big backs time to pick their holes.

“Our line did a really great job,” Wood said. “They opened the holes up for us backs tonight.”

The Tigers registered their only first down on the next series when senior receiver Hunter Russell made an outstanding catch from Eli Kropp along the left sideline for 25 yards. From there, it was Gardiner on defense for most of the night. Brewer scored 24 points in the second quarter to take a 32-0 lead at the half, but all those yards didn’t come easily.

“I was pleased that the kids came out defensively and hit those big guys low and made some plays,” White said

Senior linebacker Kaleb Caron led Gardiner’s defense with over 20 tackles.

“He’s all over the place,” White said. “He’s an outstanding linebacker. He’s hands down one the top in the league. He’s got a good sense for the ball.”

Brewer played its first unit in the third quarter and scored on its opening drive behind Wood and Duncan. Neither team did much after that as Brewer coach Nick Arthers went to his offense and kept many of his first unit on defense. The Tigers play at Nokomis next week while the Witches meet Skowhegan.

“We’ve got to get something going and carry some momentum into the game and put four quarters together,” White said. “Our offense is better than what we showed tonight, I know that. We’ve just got to tighten up a little bit and win some of these games down the road.”