SKOWHEGAN- The Skowhegan Riverhawks football team is quickly showing why they are a favorite in Class B North this season. After an opening night road win last week by 20 over another favorite the Lawrence Bulldogs, Skowhegan used a dominant defensive performance and quarterback Brenden Dunlop helped account for four of their five touchdowns to shutout the visiting Brewer Witches 35-0 in their home opener at Reginald Clark Memorial Field on Friday night.
Skowhegan (2-0) started slowly offensively, but got it going late in the first. Quintcey McCray took a shuffle pass from Dunlop and raced down the sideline for a 33 yard touchdown with 3:11 left with the only score the Riverhawks needed. 2:26 later after Brewer went three and out, Dunlop took it himself for a 23 yard scoring run to extend the advantage to 14-0. The hosts exploded in the second. Touchdowns from Dunlop (15 yard run), McCray from Dunlop (12 yard pass and catch), and a rushing score from Hunter McEwen (eight yards) in a span of 6:08 finished off the Witches and ended the scoring on the night. Brewer never got anything going offensively, as starting quarterback Ryder Goodwin was sacked four times and the team only had a total of four first downs all evening.
Dunlop played just the first half in the win and finished 5-6 passing for 70 yards with two touchdowns, while adding six rushes for 58 yards and two scores. McCray had two catches both going for touchdowns for a total of 33 yards. McEwen had six carries for 38 yards all in the first half with the one rushing TD, also adding a reception for 12 yards. Sophomore running back Bryson Howard also would add 10 rushes for 80 yards, as the Riverhawks offense finished with 258 yards. Goodwin went 7-19 passing for 55 yards in the defeat. Senior running back Cameron Hughes, who had a huge game with 170+ yards rushing and four touchdowns in a win over rival Bangor in week one, only had four carries for negative two yards in the first quarter before leaving and not returning with an undisclosed injury. The Witches ended up with just a total of 57 net yards, falling to 1-1 on the early season. Brewer has their home opener next Friday night against Edward Little, while Skowhegan remains at home and plays host to Cony next Friday.
