By Greg Clark

For D9Sports.com

ST. MARYS – It was one for the thumb when Brockway's Derek Buganza broke the Pennsylvania high school football record for career passing yards in the Rovers' 35-14 Allegheny Mountain League win over Elk County Catholic before an overlflow crowd at Dutch Country Stadium Saturday.

Buganza completed a 14-yard pass to Chris Marshall midway thru the fourth quarter to eclipse the mark of Lancaster Catholic's Kyle Smith (8,545 yards) by four yards. The 5-7, 203-pound senior also holds the state records for single-season passing yards (3,824) and single-game yards (594), which were both set in 2009.

"He (Buganza) is an unbelievable quarterback," said Frank Varischetti, Brockway head coach. "He's gutted it out with a bad thumb and he can't throw it more than 20 yards downfield right now. For nearly three years he's played quarterback flawlessly, and he has a great arm and is very smart."

The career record fell on Buganza's last throw of the AML South battle of unbeatens as he was 21-for-29 for 268 yards and one touchdown on the night.

"That (pass to Marshall) is the staple play of our offense," Varischetti explained. "It was a shallow route and it was Derek's last read in his progression with a check down to a running back in the flat. Derek threw a nice ball and it was pretty neat to see."

ECC head coach Travis Skrzypek was gracious in defeat in showing high praise for the Brockway signal-caller.

"Derek (Buganza) is a great kid and that's an impressive record he set," Skrzypek said.

Despite Buganza's record-setter, he wasn't even the star of the game as teammate Mike Vervoort scored all five Brockway touchdowns on four runs and a reception from Buganza.

"That's pretty much a regular night for Mike (Vervoort)," Varischetti stated. "He is one of the top two or three players ever to play at Brockway."

Brockway scored on its initial possession of the game when an 84-yard, nine-play drive culminated with a 20-yard TD pass from Buganza to Vervoort. Phil Esposito iced the extra point and it was 7-0 with 8:09 left in the first quarter.

Late in the opening stanza the Crusaders' Brock McCullough picked off Buganza at the Rover 30 and carried it to the 11. Three plays later Tyler Herzing made an over-the-shoulder grab of a Kyle Schneider pass and managed to get one foot into the end zone before falling out of bounds. David Bojalad booted the PAT and it was 7-up with 11:12 left in the half.

"It was a nice read and he (Herzing) made a great catch in the oorner," Skrzypek recalled.

On Brockway's next possession, Buganza completed five straight passes for a total of 71 yards and Vervoort applied the frosting with an 11-yard TD jaunt for a 14-7 advantage with 8:18 showing.

ECC then went into the lockerroom tied at 14-14 when Ricky Pearsall rumbled 19 yards for the score at the five-minute mark.

"He found a big hole then went north and south pretty fast," Skrzypek said of Pearsall, who rushed 20 times for 120 yards. "He just kept on chewing up yardage tonight."

The fortunes were then reversed with 10:55 remaining in the third quarter when Marshall partially blocked a Bojalad punt to set up shop for the Rovers at the ECC 36.

"Chris Marshall got some pressure and got a big piece of that punt," Varischetti noted. "That was definitely the turning point of the game."

Four plays later Vervoort scored the eventual game-winner with a 4-yard run. Esposito launched the extra point halfway to Kersey and it was 21-14 at the 9:52 juncture.

Following another ECC punt, the Rovers marched 80 yards in 16 plays culminated by a 4-yard score from Vervoort with 1:04 left in the third.

Brockway added more insurance on Vervoort's fifth TD of the night with 3:47 left in the contest.

"We have nothing to be ashamed of and the guys fought hard," Skrzypek declared. "The tale of the game was the blocked punt. Everything changed after that and then we just couldn't stop their (Rovers') offense.

"We have to get healthy," Skrzypek added. " We had a lot of guys going down tonight."

While ECC will migrate south to Curwensville on Friday for a matchup of 6-1 squads, Brockway is sitting pretty at 7-0.

"One more win and we will play in the AML title game," Varischetti boasted. "That was the one of our goals at the beginning of the year."

BROCKWAY 35,  ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 14

Score By Quarters

Brockway 7 7 14 7 — 35

ECC 0 14 0 0 — 14

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

B - Mike Vervoort 20 pass from Derek Buganza (Phil Esposito kick), 8:09.

Second Quarter

ECC - Tyler Herzing 7 pass from Kyle Schneider (David Bojalad kick), 11:12.

B - Vervoort 11 run (Esposito kick), 8:18.

ECC - Ricky Pearsall 19 run (Bojalad kick), 5:00. 

Third Quarter

B - Vervoort 4 run (Esposito kick), 9:52.

B - Vervoort 4 run (Esposito kick), 1:04.

Fourth Quarter

B - Vervoort 5 run (Esposito kick), 3:47.

B E

First Downs 23 7

Rushes-Yards 39-197 25-121

Passing Yards 268 70

Comp-Att-Int 21-29-1 6-13-0

Total Yardage 465 191

Punts-Average 1-27.0 5-32.2

Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties-Yards 5-42 1-5

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - Brockway: Chris Marshall 7-33, Mike Vervoort 17-90, Zack Freemer 8-55, Derek Buganza 7-19. ECC: Ricky Pearsall 20-120, Cole Gerber 3-3, Brock McCullough 1-(-2) .

Passing - Brockway: Derek Buganza 21 of 29, 268 yards, 1 TD, 1 Int. ECC: Kyle Schneider 6 of 13, 70 yards, 1 TD.

Receiving - Brockway: Kyle Braun 6-77, Jake Shaffer 3-29, Mike Vervoort 6-83, Chris Marshall 6-79. ECC: Tyler Herzing 4-52, David Bojalad 1-13, Ricky Pearsall 1-5.

Interceptions - ECC: Brock McCullough.