Brewer has found ways to contribute

The Thunder are hoping to snap a 13-game losing streak.

By John Bassetti

YOUNGSTOWN — Lost in all the losing was C.J. Brewer’s contribution.

In last Saturday’s 76-34 loss to Peoria — the Mahoning Valley Thunder’s 13th straight defeat — Brewer had three touchdowns on three rushes; one TD receiving as part of a 10-catch night; five kickoff returns for 51 yards and three tackles.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound receiver had an af2 career-high 187 yards via reception in the game, which was a first-time meeting with the Pirates.

Brewer’s role increased because of the absence of Quorey Payne, the Thunder’s offensive leader and record holder in several categories.

However, Saturday’s 10 catches gave Brewer 92, surpassing Payne’s 86. Brewer, who played with the San Francisco 49ers, has 993 yards and 15 touchdowns.

With seven more receiving yards, he’ll join Payne, who has 1,299 yards.

Brewer also replaced Payne as kickoff return man.

Of Brewer’s three tackles, two came on special teams and one following an interception by a Pirate.

In Payne’s absence as a post-and-corner receiver, Brewer, Jermaine Moye and Ricardo Lenhart share the duties.

“I’m not really the deep guy [post and corner]. That’s Quorey’s thing,” said Brewer, who noted that less than only one or two deep balls were thrown, primarily because of an injury to starting quarterback Brad Roach at the end of the first quarter.

“Jermaine and Ricardo are more than capable of going deep, but that wasn’t what we did last game.”

Brewer said that most passes were meant to be short routes: 5- or 10-yarders.

“That wasn’t our strategy going in [last Saturday], but that’s the way it evolved,” he said of adjusting to Roach’s replacement, Tom Zetts.

“We have a game plan,” Brewer said. “Every week there’s a design to beat any coverage in this game. Sometimes, depending on how the opponent plays us, we can go deep; sometimes, we’ll go short and get it to our playmakers and make something happen.”

Although Brewer had his best receiving-yardage game last week, he said it was nothing out of the ordinary.

“Maybe I got a couple extra passes and made a few extra plays [runs after catch] and that was the difference between gaining 100 yards or 187 yards.”

Apparently, Brewer’s name wasn’t called any more than usual because the passes were distributed evenly with Moye getting 7 for 39 yards and Lenhart six for 63.

“There’s no way you replace a guy like Quorey because he is the backbone of our offense, but, we still have Jermaine and Ricardo, who definitely stepped up, and I was able to make a few plays.”

With two more games Manchester is one C.J.’s mind.

“We played them to the wire here the last time,” Brewer said of a 59-53 loss [at Covelli Centre] on June 19.

“We need a couple breaks and we have to make a couple plays that we haven’t been making all year. It’s arena football, so there’s no team that’s outright better than us. We just need to make the plays that some teams seem to be making. It’s been that kind of year.”

Having played in the NFL before is there anything beyond July for Brewer?

“There’s a couple things in the works. I’m hearing good things from my agent, but I’m not thinking about that right now. I’m just trying to get these last few games won.”

bassetti@vindy.com

THUNDER | This week’s lineup

OFFENSE

QB (5) ZETTS, Tom

WR (7) MOYE, Jermaine; (9) CLARK, Pat

WR (4) BREWER, C.J.; (17) LENHART, Ricardo

FB (99) LOYTE,Jon; (13) HORTON, TaVoris

TE (50) SHANE, Kenny

C (59) JEFFREYS, Jerrick

G (70) MARKRAY, Derrick; (99) LOYTE, Jon

DEFENSE

DB (22) WELLS, Patrick; (9) CLARK, Pat

DB (10) TAYLOR, Brandon

DB (12) GREISER, Ryan; (23) WARD, Kyle

Mack (6) WALLACE, Taz; (37) McGEE, Frashon

Jack (13) HORTON, TaVoris; (10) TAYLOR, Brandon

DE (49) CHEATWOOD, Tim; (37) McGEE, Frashon

NG (96) HARRISON, Larry; (99) LOYTE, Jon

DE (44) ALSTON, Michael; (13) HORTON, TaVoris

SPECIALISTS

K (19) PALMER, Brian

H (5) ZETTS, Tom

LS (59) JEFFREYS, Jerrick

KR (4) Brewer; (9) Clark, Pat; (17) LENHART, Ricardo

af2

Standings, statistics

American Conference East

Team W-L-T streak

WB/Scranton Pioneers11-3-0 Lost 1

Manchester Wolves7-7-0 Won 3

Albany Firebirds6-8-0 Lost 1

Mahoning Val Thunder1-13-0 Lost 13

American Conference Midwest

Iowa Barnstormers10-4-0 Won 3

Green Bay Blizzard8-6-0 Lost 1

Peoria Pirates5-9-0 Won 2

Milwaukee Iron5-9-0 Lost 2

Quad City Steamwheel 5-10-0 Won 1

American Conference West

Ten. Valley Vipers10-4-0 Lost 1

S. Georgia Wildcats9-5-0 Won 1

Kentucky Horsemen9-5-0 Won 4

Florida Firecats6-8-0 Lost 1

National Conference Central

Tulsa Talons12-2-0 Won 1

Oklahoma Yard Dawgz7-8-0 Lost 3

Amarillo Dusters2-12-0 Lost 4

National Conference Southwest

Arkansas Twisters10-4-0 Won 3

Bossier Battle Wings9-5-0 Won 5

Rio Grande Dorados7-7-0Lost 1

Corp. Christi Sharks2-12-0 Lost 6

National Conference West

Spokane Shock13-1-0 Won 1

Boise Burn12-2-0 Won 8

Stockton Lightning5-9- 0 Won 1

Cen. Valley Coyotes3-11-0 Lost 8

Tri-Cities Fever2-12-0 Lost 1

Friday’s games

Mahoning Val Thunder at Manchester Wolves

Milwaukee Iron vs Green Bay Blizzard

Saturday’s games

Peoria Pirates vs. Kentucky Horsemen

Ten. Valley Vipers vs. Florida Firecats

Boise Burn vs. S. Georgia Wildcats

Albany Firebirds vs. WB/Scranton Pioneers

Stockton Lightning vs. Amarillo Dusters

Tulsa Talons vs. Arkansas Twisters

Bossier Battle Wings vs. Corp. Christi Sharks

Iowa Barnstormers vs. Quad City Steamwheel

Tri-Cities Fever vs. Rio Grande Dorados

Spokane Shock vs. Cen. Valley Coyotes

LEADERS

THUNDER

Rushing — Brewer C.J. 12-35; ZETTS, Tom 3-27.

Passing — Roach, Brad 46 of 92 for 629 yards (11 interceptions); Zetts, Tom 19 of 36 for 256 yards (3 interceptions).

Receiving — Brewer, C.J. 92 for 993 yards, 15 touchdowns; Payne, Quorey 86 for 1299, 26 TDs; Moye, Jermaine 27 for 296 yards, 4 TDs.

MANCHESTER

Rushing — Jefferson, Paul 58 for 224 yards, 6 TDs; Pinkney, James 12 for 121 yards, 7 TDs; Potts, Mike 14 for 26 yards, 6 TDs.

Passing — Pinkney, James 186 of 301 for 2375 yards, 49 TDs; Potts, Mike 123 of 184 for 1380 yards, 24 TDS.

Receiving — Savoy, Steve 86 for 1075 yards, 29 TDs; Sammons, Emery 83 for 1213 yards, 23 TDs; Williams, Deyon 53 for 545 yards, 9 TDs.

See also: Zetts gets baptism under af2 fire