BREWER, Maine — The Hermon High School Hawks gave the Brewer High School Witches a rude welcome to Class C North football on Friday night.
Junior quarterback Bruce Coulter rushed for 160 yards and two touchdowns on six carries and the Hawks scored on all seven of their possessions, including five in the first half, en route to a 54-12 victory over the Witches at Doyle Field.
Brewer is in its first season in Class C after dropping from Class B.
All of Coulter’s carries came in the first half and he scored the game’s first touchdown on a 6-yard run that capped a game-opening four-play, 40-yard drive following his 49-yard kickoff return.
On the next drive, he scampered 93 yards for a touchdown as the Hawks made it 16-0 just 5:13 into the game.
He ran for both two-point conversions.
A bizarre sideways kickoff and a 12-yard return by Hunter Merrithew set the Witches up at the Hermon 31-yard line and Merrithew dashed 20 yards on the third play of the drive to pull the Witches within 16-6.
But Hermon scored on its next three possessions to build an insurmountable 38-6 halftime lead.
Alec Smith finished off the next drive with a one-yard run and Coulter added the two-point conversion to make it 24-6; Smith then powered into the end zone from 6 yards out and senior center Anthony Addessi was given the opportunity to carry the ball with 1:52 left in the half and he scored from 2 yards out.
Addessi had set up the TD with an interception and 40-yard return.
In the second half, Damon Kimball and Smith sandwiched 1-yard TD runs around Merrithew’s 74-yard run as he broke through a number of tackles and sprinted down the field.
Hermon wound up rushing for 383 yards on 39 carries.
Kimball rushed for 76 yards on 11 carries, Smith wound up with 73 on 11 carries and Max Hopkins gained 48 on five carries.
The Hawk interior offensive line comprised of Addessi, guards Gavin Lamos and Kayden Patten and tackles Jake Murzyn and Ashton Harriman completely dominated the line of scrimmage and the hard-running Hermon backs picked up a ton of yards after contact as they kept their legs churning and fought through tackles.
“I’m super happy in all phases of our game tonight except of that random 3-yard kickoff,” said Hermon coach Kyle Gallant. “We have three returners in our offensive line and three other guys who got a lot of varsity minutes last year. They did a great job up front.”
“It was just five dudes going forward and running over the people in front of you,” Addessi said.
Gallant also acknowledged that his running backs run yard.
“That’s a big emphasis at Hermon,” said the fleet-footed Coulter. “Lower your shoulder and run them over. Just get extra yards. The more yards, the more touchdowns.”
The hard-working Merrithew gained 111 on five carries for the Witches and also played well on defense, as did Steven Youngs.
Patten and Harriman were among the standouts on defense for Hermon.
Brewer coach Scott Flagg said Hermon was “a lot more physical than us.”
“I’m disappointed that we didn’t rise to the occasion and I hope we’ll be better next week,” said Flagg, whose Witches were hit hard by graduation losses and have 34 freshmen and sophomores on their roster.
Both teams will be in action again next Friday night at 7 p.m. as Hermon entertains Oceanside of Rockland in a rematch of last year’s Class C semifinal won by Hermon 49-28, and Brewer travels to Hampden Academy.