BROCKWAY BATTLES OLIVER IN PIAA CLASS AA FIRST ROUND

By Chris Rossetti

CLARION – Fresh of its first District 9 Class AA title since 2005, the Brockway Rovers are getting set to entertain an unknown foe from Oliver at 7 p.m. Friday night at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium.

It’s the first-ever meeting between Brockway (11-0) and Oliver (4-6), and it marks the first time a District 9 Class AA team has played a Pittsburgh City League Class AA team – District 9 has faced the City League seven times in Class AAA going 2-5.

While Brockway is coming off a 50-0 win over Brookville Friday night in the D9 Class AA title game, Oliver hasn’t played since Nov. 5 when it beat Westinghouse 27-8.

The win over Westinghouse gives the Bears a three-game win streak after starting the season 1-6.

A lot of Oliver’s problems can be traced to an offense that was shutout three times in the first four games while scoring a total of six points during that stretch and a defense that allowed an average of 27.4 points per game over the first seven weeks.

But both units improved down the stretch with the offense averaging 22.3 points per game in the final three games and the defensive allowing just 36 points during that span.

Some of that was probably due to the records of the teams Oliver was beating – Langley was 4-6, Carrick 2-8 and Westinghouse 1-9 – but some has to be a credit to improvement as well, especially from sophomore quarterback Shakeem Cox.

Cox, who is 5-foot-11, 160 pounds, is 66 of 138 on the season for 744 yards, eight touchdowns and nine interceptions. He has also run for 159 yards and four touchdowns. During the three-game win streak, Cox is 20 of 39 for 232 yards, four touchdowns and five interceptions, with three of those picks coming in the first win of the streak vs. Langley. He also has run for 123 yards and a touchdown in the last two games.

Oliver features a couple of big targets for Cox.

Senior Devante’ Tiller is 6-foot-1, 180 pounds and has 23 catches for 241 yards and a touchdown including 12 grabs for 107 yards and a score in the last three games, while Jocquet Foster is a 6-foot, 160-pound junior who has 11 catches for 282 yards and two touchdowns.

Tyree Mathis, a 5-foot-9, 190pound senior, is the leading rusher for Oliver with 392 yards and two touchdowns on 100 carries. He has 194 yards and a touchdown during the win streak including his lone 100-yard game of the year (121 yards, 1 TD vs. Carrick Oct. 29). Mathis, who is adding 14 catches for 124 yards while also going 2-for-2 passing for 99 yards and two touchdowns, accounts for over half of Oliver’s 750 yards rushing this season.

Five-foot-11, 170-pound senior Trevon Kendrick also is a threat for the Bears.

He has 18 catches for 186 yards and four touchdowns, including a two-touchdown game against Westinghouse and a seven-catch contest against Brashear in a 21-20 loss to the City League runner-up. Kendrick adds 145 yards rushing and a touchdown and is 10-for-14 passing for one touchdown and one interception.

Leading the defense for Oliver is Mathis, who averages 6.7 tackles per game, Tiller, who averages 5.6 tackles per game, Andrew Williams (5.2 tpg), who has a team-high five sacks, Kendrick, who has a team-high five interceptions, and Foster, who has four sacks and two interceptions.

That defense will have to find a way to contain a Brockway offense that is averaging 49.9 points per game and hasn’t been held to fewer than 21 all season while scoring 35 or more points 10 times, 40 or more points nine times, 50 or more points six times and 60 or more twice with a season high of 71 in a 71-6 win over Ridgway.

The offense is led by the all-time leading passer in Pennsylvania history, senior Derek Buganza.

Buganza, who became the first quarterback in Pennsylvania history to throw for 9,000 career yards in the win over Brookville last week, has 9,254 yards in his career with 91 career touchdowns.

This season, he is 142 of 210 (67.6 percent) passing for 2,506 yards with 26 touchdowns and nine interceptions despite being slowed at times by a thumb injury. But that thumb must be feeling better considering he has 583 yards and seven touchdowns in the last two games.

Buganza has plenty of weapons starting with senior wide receiver/running back Mike Vervoort. Vervoort has had an all-around solid season with 98 carries for 900 yards and 16 touchdowns and 43 catches for 749 yards and nine touchdowns.

Additional weapons for the Rovers include wide receivers Kyle Braun (37 catches, 802 yards, 8 TDs) and Jake Shaffer (32 catches, 524 yards, 5 TDs) and running back Chris Marshall (86 carries, 488 yards and six touchdowns).

Maybe the most improved part of the Brockway team, though, is its defense.

Last year, the Rovers allowed 25.7 points per game but have reduced that to 19.7 points per contest this season including just 29 points over the last three games. The shutout win over Brookville was the first shutout for Brockway in the four-year stint of head coach Frank Varischetti.

The defense is led by Zack Brinkley (9.9 tackles per game), Joel Yahner (7.6 tackles per game) and Morgan Murray (8.6 tackles per game, 9 sacks).

NOTES – Brockway is 1-3 is PIAA playoff games. The Rovers beat Slippery Rock 12-7 in their first-ever PIAA playoff game but have lost the past three by a combined score of 103-30. This is their first PIAA playoff game since a 41-16 loss to Reynolds in 2005 … District 9 Class AA teams have lost eight of nine PIAA playoff games since Brockway’s win over Slippery Rock in 2002 with Karns City’s 32-14 win over North Star in 2008 being the only win. D9 Class AA teams are just 3-19 overall in PIAA playoff games. The other win was Brookville 23, Wilmington 14 in 1994 ... The winner plays the winner of the WPIAL Class AA title game between Aliquippa and South Fayette.