Cody McKee
Special to the Enquirer

BOAZ – Brewer forced seven total turnovers to pull out 26-20 victory over the Boaz Pirates Friday night.

This is the first time Brewer (1-1) has ever been 1-0 in region play since regions were introduced in 2000.

After having a rough first of the week, Coach Dan Styles credited his team for pulling together to rally around sophomore quarterback Hunter Swafford and was able to take the huge monumental victory against the Boaz Pirates.

“We preach it’s our response that makes the difference between winning and failure. We rallied around our quarterback and he did a good job,” Styles said.

Brewer was able to stop Boaz despite the good field position inside the red zone after a turnover on the first Patriot series of the game.

Brewer finally capitalized on a fourth-and-goal opportunity to take the lead 6-0 on a TJ Morrow touchdown.

Boaz answered at the 1:55 mark after a 51-yard run by Trent Patterson, which led to his receiving touchdown from quarterback Wesley Burns.

A stalemate of the first part of the second led to a conversional touchdown drive after a few questionable calls led to a 20-yard touchdown run by Jacob Aaron despite getting the PAT blocked, Boaz was up 20-14.

Brewer found themselves helping the cause on defense. Kolton Bramlett picked up a fumble and took it in 16-yards out making the score 20-20 after a failed attempt. Heading into the fourth teams saw their own fair share of three-and-outs and turnovers.

Morrow appeared to have a touchdown late in the game, but the officials ruled it was a fumble and awarded Boaz the ball on a touchback.

Nevertheless, Brewer recovered to forced a punt with less than three minutes to play in the game.

Swafford made his first varsity touchdown was a clutch one when he hit Brendon Deberry on a deep route to put the Patriots ahead for the first time since the first quarter 26-20.

After a first down, Boaz was close to midfield and driving with less than 2 to play, but the defense stepped up again. Brewer’s Deshaun Walker picked off Burns to seal the deal.

Styles complimented his team’s effort and said they will start new on Sunday for next week as they come back home and take on another region opponent in Etowah.