The annual Bangor-Brewer football rivalry game is back.
Having met 110 times since 1903, the two sides broke tradition last year by failing to meet on the gridiron, due to scheduling issues related to Brewer’s reclassification from Class B to Class C.
The rivals will meet again this year, in the form of a preseason exhibition game scheduled for Friday, August 30 at Cameron Stadium in Bangor. The game won’t count toward the Crabtree standings, but both sides remain extremely excited to resume the historic rivalry.
“Anytime you can play, it’s exciting for the kids,” four-year Bangor head football coach Dave Morris (class of 1985) said. “We’re Class A and they’re Class C, but you can still appreciate the rivalry.”
Both Morris and Brewer first-year head coach Fred Lower (class of 1988) played varsity football for the Rams.
“I’ve been part of the rivalry as a player and as a coach,” Lower said. “There are a lot of great traditions and stories that come out of it. The game will make for a great night.”
Bangor leads the all-time series 75-27, with eight ties, but Brewer has largely reigned over the past decade.
Brewer won a countable game 35-6 in 2022, and won four consecutive preseason exhibition games from 2015 to 2018. Bangor won countable games in 2021 and 2019, and the game was not scheduled during the 2020 and 2014 seasons.
Each offseason, football coaches select 16 teams they would like to play during the regular season, which the MPA refers to when developing the statewide, eight-week schedule. Brewer requested to play Bangor the past two years, but the Rams submitted a list of all Class A and B teams.
“It doesn’t make sense for the Brewer game to be countable; we’re two classes apart,” Morris said. “It’s not fair to us, and it’s not fair to them. We’d play every Class A school if we could.”
The Rams and Witches were unable to meet during the preseason last year because Brewer had already scheduled a game versus Salem High School in Massachusetts — one of only two other high school teams in the nation named the Witches.
The exhibition game was dubbed the first annual “Ken Perrone Witches Classic,” named for the legendary coach who led both programs to multiple state titles from the 1960’s to the 1990’s. This year’s rendition of the Witches Classic will be a countable game in Brewer on Saturday, Sept. 14 during the second week of the Maine football regular season.
On Friday, Sept. 6, Bangor will host reigning Class A state champion Thornton Academy, and Brewer will travel to Farmington to play the Mt. Blue Cougars.
