Special-teams touchdowns help Messalonskee surge past Brewer football
Sep. 18—Eight days ago the Messalonskee High School football team hadn't won a game since 2017 — a stretch covering 22 consecutive losses.
Now the Eagles are on a new streak after defeating Brewer 26-7 in a Class B North matchup at Doyle Field on Friday night for their second consecutive victory.
The Oakland-based team, now 2-1 this season, scored two touchdowns on special teams and ran off 26 unanswered points after spotting Brewer the first score of the night.
The Witches fall to 0-3.
Brewer's defense limited Messalonskee to 148 total yards, but an 80-yard blocked field-goal return by Sam Dube and a 72-yard punt return by Garrett Card helped the Eagles make up the difference.
Senior quarterback Brady Doucette rushed for 56 yards and a touchdown and passed for 36 yards and another score for Messalonskee. Backfield mate Giovanni Caccamo added 49 rushing yards.
Brewer totaled 203 yards, all on the ground with junior halfback Cameron Hughes rushing for 137 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries and classmate Rowan Valley adding 71 yards on eight rushes.
Brewer scored on its second possession of the game after senior defensive lineman Stephen Cummings first stripped Doucette of the ball and then recovered the fumble at the Messalonskee 47 with 9:14 left in the opening quarter.
Hughes carried the ball seven times for 28 yards during the ensuing march, and took a pitch from quarterback Ryder Goodwin around left end for the final yard to the endzone, with Valley adding the extra-point kick to give the Witches their seven-point advantage with 3:27 left in the period.
Messalonskee managed just 12 total yards in the first quarter, but the Eagles blocked a 27-yard field-goal attempt by Valley and Dube returned the loose ball 80 yards down the middle of the field to the endzone with 10:16 remaining in the half to cut the margin to 7-6.
Messalonskee took the lead with a 52-yard drive in the final three minutes of the half, with Doucette passing 10 yards to Zach Wilson on a timing pattern for the score with 22.2 seconds left until intermission.
The Eagles stretched their lead to 18-7 on their second possession of the second half, with Doucette capping off a 65-march with a 7-yard scoring run late in the third quarter.
Messalonskee generated its final touchdown of the night with 10:52 left in the game when Card caught a Brewer punt at the Eagles' 28-yard line, sped to the left sideline and then cut back across the field to complete a 72-yard return to the endzone.
Doucette added the two-point conversion run to make it 26-7.
