By Rich Rhoades

WEST SUNBURY — A flurry of scoring in the first half that ended with a late 25-yard touchdown pass from Steven Kennedy to Brock Bietz wound up being the game-winner in Brookville’s 19-14 win at Moniteau Friday night.

After a Moniteau punt to the Raiders’ 22 with 1:35 remaining in the second quarter, the Raiders were close to letting the clock run out on the half, but on third-and-5, Ryan Kerr ripped off a 48-yard run to the Warriors’ 25. On the next play, Kennedy hit Bietz for paydirt with 16.2 seconds remaining.

As it turned out, the score was the final one of the night as the Raiders (3-0) held on to beat the Warriors after a scoreless second half, ending a five-game losing streak to Moniteau (1-2) and improving to 2-0 in the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference-Large School Division.

Kerr was the workhorse for the Raiders, gaining 189 yards on 34 carries. He scored the Raiders’ first TD on a 2-yard run at the end of the first quarter. Kennedy added   a 40-yard TD run in the second quarter and finished with 67 yards on six carries.

Moniteau quarterback Kyle Armagost ran for 119 yards on 25 attempts and completed 12 of 32 passes for 139 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.

Armagost’s interception in the first quarter came in the Raiders’ end zone as Bietz picked his pass off on a second-and-goal play from the 8. He advanced the ball to the 9 and set the stage for a Raiders 12-play drive, all of them runs, that was finished by Kerr.

But Moniteau continued a stretch of both teams’ combined four straight possessions that found the end zone when it marched 80 yards on 10 plays. Armagost hit Dustin Geagan on a 10-yard TD pass with 9:33 left in the second quarter.

It took the Raiders just four plays after the ensuing kickoff to score again on Kennedy’s 40-yard draw play where he bounced left to the outside and outraced the Warriors defense to the end zone. Cameron Yard’s point-after kick bounced off the left upright.

Back came the Warriors as they answered with an 11-play, 60-yard drive capped by Armagost’s 6-yard TD pass to Zach Sloan, who finished with five catches for 39 yards. All of those catches came in the first half as he left the game early in the third quarter with an apparent ankle injury.

The Raiders then scored the final touchdown in the waning seconds of the first half.

Brookville had two long drives in the second half come up empty, but it did give it plenty of field position advantage and chew up time on the clock. The Raiders took the second-half kickoff to the Moniteau 10, but stalled on downs with 4:22 left in the third quarter.

While the Warriors managed just three first downs in their first three possessions of the second half, they still had a chance at the end when another Raiders’ deep drive was stopped at the Warriors’ 25.

The Warriors reached the Raiders’ 33 before getting stopped on downs at the 31 with 30.7 seconds on the clock.           

BROOKVILLE 19, MONITEAU 14

Score By Quarters

Brookville       7          12        0          0          —        19

Moniteau        0          14        0          0          —        14

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

B - Ryan Kerr 2 run (Cameron Yard kick), :02.

Second Quarter

M - Dustin Geagan 10 pass from Kyle Armagost (Kyle Armagost kick), 9:33.

B - Steven Kennedy 40 run (kick failed), 8:24.

M - Zach Sloan 6 pass from Kyle Armagost (Armagost kick), 4:03.

B - Brock Bietz 25 pass from Steven Kennedy (kick failed), :16.2.

                                    B                     M

First Downs                16                    15

Rushes-Yards              49-311             32-130

Passing Yards             55                    139

Comp-Att-Int              3-9-0                12-32-1

Total Yardage             366                  269

Punts-Average                        4-25                 5-29

Fumbles-lost                4-0                   0-0

Penalties-Yards           8-59                 3-20

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — Brookville: Ryan Kerr 34-189, Steven Kennedy 6-67, Jacob Cieleski 8-36, Jared Heschke 1-19, Team 1-(-1). Moniteau: Kyle Armagost 25-119, Dustin Geagan 4-8, David Campbell  2-4, Ethan Pry 1-(-1).

Passing — Brookville: Steven Kennedy 3-of-8, 55 yards, 1 TD; Jared Heschke 0-of-1. Moniteau: Kyle Armagost 12-of-32, 139 yards, 2 TDs, 1 Int.

Receiving — Brookville: Jared Heschke 2-30, Brock Bietz 1-25. Moniteau: Zach Sloan 5-39, Ethan Pry 4-77, Dustin Geagan 2-17, Joey Deal 1-6.

Interceptions — Brookville: Brock Bietz.

Sacks — Brookville: Madison Shobert.

Kick returns — Brookville: Cameron Yard 1-18, Connor Gerg 1-10, Dakota Singleton 1-7. Moniteau: Ethan Pry 2-24, Jordan Smith 1-17, Kyle Armagost 0-25.

Punt returns — Brookville: Brandon Brownlee 1-0. Moniteau: Ethan Pry 2-1.