High-school football team honors fallen Clermont County sheriff’s detective

WILLIAMSBURG, Ohio (WXIX) - The Williamsburg High School football team returned to the gridiron Friday night with a special tribute to one of their honored alumni: fallen Clermont County Sheriff’s Det. Bill Brewer.

The team honored Brewer, himself an all-state quarterback at Williamsburg in 1996, during half-time of the game against Batavia High School.

It’s a rivalry that carries special significance for one of Brewer’s long-time friends and former co-workers, Clermont County Sheriff’s Major B.J. Boerger.

“I know that this would have meant a lot to Bill. I know who he’s rooting for. I know he’s rooting for his Wildcats,” said Boerger, a Batavia graduate.

Brewer was shot and killed during a standoff with a gunman at a Pierce Township apartment complex in 2019. Boerger was a detective sergeant at the time. Brewer was one of his detectives.

“He had sent me a text to let me know that he was going out, and I just told him, like I do with all of my guys, just to be safe, and it was a few hours later that I actually got a phone call to respond to the scene because two of our guys had been shot,” Boerger recalled.

Boerger says responding to the scene was traumatizing not only as a colleague but as a friend of many years.

”Bill and I both graduated in 1996,” he said. “I was a Batavia student. He was a Williamsburg student.”

Boerger says even 20 years later when they worked together at the sheriff’s office, Brewer would still rib him about Williamsburg always beating Batavia in football.

It’s a rivalry that continued Friday night as family and friends of the late detective kept his memory alive. Brewer’s son flipped the coin toss.

Players will continue to honor the late detective at every game this year with jerseys featuring Brewer’s name and a blue line.

”Everyone says that in time things get easier, things get better,” Boerger said, “but I don’t find that to be true for us.

Boerger is part of the Deputy BIll Brewer 2055 Foundation, a nonprofit created to continue Brewer’s service to the community.

”In one word, he’s a hero,” Boerger said. “He’s someone who paid the ultimate sacrifice. He was just a great person and he’s missed dearly everyday.”

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