Patriots can’t keep up with Etowah
Brendon Deberry runs around end for extra yardage. Deberry took over at quarterback after Weston Pritchett was injured and is out for the season. | Benjamin Maxwell
Benjamin Maxwell
Special to the Enquirer
ATTALLA – The Etowah Blue Devils (2-1) dropped the Brewer Patriots (0-3) under the Etowah lights 48-8 on Friday.
Brewer, which was looking to bounce back from a heartbreaking 0-2 start under new head coach Dan Styles, suffered another loss during the week after losing their starting senior quarterback Weston Pritchett for the remainder of the season due to injury.
“It is something we can overcome,” said Styles. “It is something we have to bounce back from.”
Sophomore Brendon Deberry, who has been the Patriots go-to halfback, stepped into the quarterback position for his team. Though the Patriots passing suffered a setback with the loss of Pritchett, Deberry continued to lead his offense with a scrambling scheme that left him just shy of 100 yards rushing from his new position.
However, it was Brewer’s defense that stole the show in the first quarter. Brewer senior Daniel Clayton made his presence known early when he sacked Etowah quarterback Tyler Bishop on the first play of the game from scrimmage. Despite their offensive struggles, the Patriot’s defense owned the first quarter only allowing the Blue Devils to cross midfield once.
“Defensively we had a good plan,” Styles said. “It worked well when the players trusted in it. We just have to learn to finish.”
In the second quarter the Blue Devils finally found an answer to the dominating Brewer defense as they marched down the field 68 yards to score on a seven yard touchdown run by Devin Horton. The failed two point conversion left the Patriots down only 6-0.
Etowah would not be finished in the first half yet, as Bishop connected for a 58 yard touchdown pass. A 45-yard punt return by Horton added to the Blue Devil lead 20-0 heading into halftime.
Both teams struggled offensively to open the second half as they swapped turnover-on-downs. However, it was Etowah that found their momentum with Garret Morton carrying the ball for a seven-yard touchdown run. The two point play was good.
Disaster struck the Patriots on the ensuing drive when Coby Bryant picked off a screen pass from Deberry and carried it back for the go ahead touchdown. A Horton extra point was good giving the Blue Devils a 35-0 command.
Etowah struck once more before the third quarter was done, this time with an eight yard Dominick Pinson touchdown carry to put Etowah up 42-0.
Patriot senior Devon Green showed his leadership in the halfback position as he powered through the Etowah defense fighting for four straight carries. Green totaled over 50 yards in the second half.
“He’s one of those players that will do whatever you ask him to do,” Styles said. “If we had eleven more like him on the team we would be a good example of what a team needs to be: unselfish.”
Green finally put his team on the board with a six yard touchdown carry in the fourth quarter. Deberry was able to recover a low snap and stretch across the goal line for the two point play making the score 42-8.
Etowah would go on to have the last word as Paul Ruiz carried the ball 59 yards for one last Blue Devils touchdown with just less than three minutes remaining in the game. The point after attempt failed making the final score 48-8.
“Little things matter, and when three or four little things happen it builds up to outcomes like this,” said Styles.
“It is evidence that we haven’t established the confidence we need to bounce back from adversity. That’s the big difference keeping us from being a great football team. We need to be able to be resilient and bounce back from adversity. We’re being tested in many ways and we just have to keep doing what we’re doing; I think we’re doing the right things.”
Brewer pushes on to face Arab at home on Sept. 21.
“We have a lot of guys who play on Monday night and have to turn around and play on Friday night, but it’s something that will make us better.”
