BROCKWAY SPOILS RIDGWAY HOMECOMING

WEEK FOUR

RIDGWAY – The Brockway Rovers kept their hat in the ring in the topsy-turvy Allegheny Mountain League’s South Division with a 36-13 win at Ridgway, spoiling the Elkers’ homecoming festivities Friday night.

Sophomore Jeremy Sickeri and junior Jonathan Cantafio each rushed for over 100 yards as the Rovers (3-1) piled up 279 yards on the ground. Sickeri rushed for 142 yards on 31 carries and Cantafio gained 114 yards on 18 carries. Fullback Trenton Marnati scored three touchdowns on runs of 1, 1 and 5 yards.

The Rovers’ defense deserves credit for much of the win as it limited Ridgway (1-3) to only three first downs and 115 yards of offense. Brockway intercepted three different Elkers quarterbacks and controlled the line of scrimmage the entire game.

But the Rovers only led 14-0 at intermission. Marnati’s 1-yarder opened scoring with 5:40 left in the first quarter and quarterback John Himes connected with Cantafio on an 8-yard TD pass on fourth-and 5 with 4:04 remaining in the first half. On two other occasions, the Rovers reached the red zone but were stopped on downs at the Ridgway 6 and a missed 32-yard field goal by Cantafio.

Sickeri opened the second half scoring by taking the Ridgway kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown to give Brockway a 21-0 advantage after the point-after kick.

Ridgway climbed back into the game when Ben Buck scored on two returns within a span of a little over two minutes late in the third quarter. Buck picked up a Sickeri fumble and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown with 3:58 remaining and then after the Ridgway defense stopped Brockway and forced a punt, Buck returned the boot 72 yards. After the point-after kick, the Elkers trailed 21-13 with 1:40 left in the third quarter.

But it would get no closer. Ridgway did force Brockway to punt on the ensuing possession, but the Elkers would fail to get a first down the rest of the game. Brockway made it 29-13 on Marnati’s second 1-yard TD run and his 5-yarder closed out the scoring with 1:58 left.

B – Trenton Marnati 1 run (kick failed), 5:40.

B – Jonathan Cantafio 8 pass from John Himes (Rich Kolash pass from John Himes), 4:04.

B – Jeremy Sickeri 86 kick return (Jonathan Cantafio kick), 11:48.

R – Ben Buck 40 fumble recovery (kick failed), 3:58.

R – Ben Buck 72 punt return (Jon Fleming kick), 1:40.

B – Trenton Marnati 1 run (Benji Martini pass from John Himes), 8:42.

B – Trenton Marnati 5 run (Jonathan Cantafio kick), 1:58.

First Downs 14 3

Rushes-Yards 62-279 20-54

Passing: Comp-Att-Int 3-4-0 2-14-3

Passing Yards 23 61

Total Yards 302 115

Fumbles-lost 3-1 0-0

Penalties-Yards 7-67 5-31

Punts-Avg. 2-35 4-23.8

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – Brockway: Jeremy Sickeri 31-142, Jonathan Cantafio 18-114, Trenton Marnati 10-29, Justin McKay 1-(-1), Josh Lindemuth 2-(-5). Ridgway: Ryan Mitchell 7-23, Dustin Dickant 4-18, Tim Wright 1-6, Cody Mathis 5-5, Brandon Steger 3-2.

PASSING – Brockway: John Himes 3-for-4, 23 yards; Ridgway: Brandon Steger 0-for-7, 1 Int.; Andy Kelly 2-for-6, 61 yards, 1 Int.; Garret Viglione 0-for-1, 1 Int.

RECEIVING – Brockway: Rich Kolash 3-23. Ridgway: Jesse DePanfilis 1-52, Dustin Dickant 1-9.