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.