By Staff
Brewer defeats Priceville in OT for 1st victory over the Bulldogs
Justin Schuver, Hartselle Enquirer
In a game often described as "brothers against brothers," this time it was the bigger brother's turn to celebrate.
Tony Dickerson's 1-yard touchdown run in overtime proved to be the winning score as Brewer defeated Priceville 19-12 Friday evening at James R. Tucker Stadium. The Patriots (1-0) defeated the Bulldogs (0-1) for the first time in school history and avenged a 27-20 loss to Priceville last season.
"I'm relieved for these guys," Brewer coach Billy Coleman said. "They deserved it, but we've got to give a lot of credit to Priceville as well. They played their hearts out and it was just a great football game."
After the game ended in regulation tied at 12-12, Priceville won the overtime coin toss and elected to go on defense first. Brewer called three consecutive running plays, with Dickerson scoring on a quarterback sneak.
"We were running our jumbo package," Brewer senior fullback Miles Cloer said. "And the call was just a normal handoff type of run, but in the huddle me and Tony looked at each other and he said, 'Hey, you want me to keep it and you just push me over?' I got behind him and helped get him into the end zone."
Priceville's ensuing possession started well, before penalties began to take their toll on the Bulldogs. Jeremy Hale's 5-yard run pushed the team to the Brewer 4-yard line but the play was called back on an illegal motion penalty and instead the Bulldogs were faced with a second-and-14.
A later delay of game penalty gave Priceville one last chance on fourth-and-goal from the Brewer 21. Hale attempted a pass but it was knocked away by a diving Vinny Muggeo.
"I was so relieved," Muggeo said. "It was an amazing feeling to know we'd won. I was nervous; I'm still nervous now. We wanted so badly to beat this team."
Brewer started the game off with a bang, putting together a 12-play, 70-yard scoring drive that culminated with Dickerson's 8-yard touchdown pass to Zack Graham midway through the first quarter. The extra point failed.
Priceville scored the next 12 points of the game, adding a touchdown on Eli Allen's 2-yard run 11 seconds into the second quarter. The extra point was blocked by Brewer's John Tallent. The Bulldogs added to their lead when Logan Manthey found Aaron Sawyer open for a 35-yard touchdown pass with 5:30 left in the first half.
Brewer responded with a scoring drive of its own, with Chris Dickerson scoring on a 19-yard touchdown run with 1:14 left in the second quarter. Neither team scored in the second half.
"Offensively we just really couldn't get going there in the second half," Coleman said. "But a lot of that credit goes to Priceville, they played us tough on defense."
The Bulldogs had a good chance to take the lead in the fourth quarter when Jayson Hamilton's 6-yard run moved the ball to the Brewer 28. But the run was wiped out by a personal foul call against the Bulldogs, moving them back to the Brewer 43. The drive stalled at that point, with Priceville turning the ball over on downs when Will Halbrooks was tackled short of a first down by Brewer's Aaron Taylor.
"It's like I said last week, whichever team made the fewest penalties was going to win the game," Priceville coach Donald Weeks said. "We had some penalties in overtime that really hurt us, but this was the kind of game where we had lots of opportunities to win in regulation and didn't capitalize."
Following Muggeo's pass deflection, the Brewer students spilled onto the field and the celebration began.
"I'm almost in tears with how happy I am," Cloer said. "No other win comes close. This is the high point of my varsity career, definitely."
Both teams face tough opponents this weekend. Priceville travels to East Limestone (1-0) while Brewer goes on the road to face Russellville (1-0). Both games begin Friday at 7 p.m.