By Rich Rhoades

PUNXSUTAWNEY — After a hard-fought first half, the Brookville Raiders starting turning the ball over and Punxsutawney Chucks quarterback Logan Weaver kept on slinging it through the air.

Punxsutawney scored three times off Brookville turnovers in a 28-point second half and Weaver passed for 217 yards and three touchdowns while running for another in the Chucks’ 37-6 win over the Raiders Friday night.

The Chucks (9-0 overall, 4-0 KSAC-Large School) secured the Route 36 Trophy for the second straight year and won the first-ever Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference’s Large School Division title. However, the Chucks did not mathematically clinch a District 9 Class AAA playoff berth. That would happen for sure if the Chucks beat winless West Shamokin next week.

Brookville, meanwhile, dropped to 7-2 overall and 3-1 in the KSAC-Large School.

Weaver completed 16 of 24 passes and his season-high 217 yards put him over 1,000 yards for the season (1,063) to go along with an impressive 17 TDs against just two interceptions.

Naturally, Weaver was in the mix in the Chucks’ breakaway second half that saw them feast on Brookville giveaways.

The Chucks’ Ben Blazavich recovered a Raiders fumble at the Raiders’ 45 after quarterback Steven Kennedy’s botched handoff to fullback Jacob Cieleski. Five plays later Glenn Perry scored on a 2-yard run. Weaver connected with Blazavich and Duell Thompson on passes of 26 and 12 yards during the drive.

After forcing the Raiders to punt, the Chucks went 68 yards on 11 plays to score. Weaver hit Zak Dickey with a 10-yard TD pass to make it 23-6 following the point-after kick with 1:55 left in the third quarter.

Thompson picked off a halfback option pass by Cameron Yard on the Raiders’ first play from scrimmage after the ensuing kickoff and the Chucks again turned the giveaway into points. Weaver scored on an 8-yard run on fourth-and-four.

The Chucks closed the scoring after the Raiders’ Ryan Kerr fumbled on the first play after the ensuing kickoff. Weaver hooked up with Dickey for a second time on a 5-yard TD pass with 7:41 remaining in the game. Dickey wound up catching six passes for 68 yards.

In the first half, the Chucks scored first on a 13-play, 76-yard drive as Weaver threw an 11-yard TD pass to Corban Cressley with 3:33 left in the first quarter. The Raiders’ Justin Snyder blocked the point-after kick.

Brookville answered the touchdown with its only scoring drive of the game as Kerr scored on a 3-yard run with 14 seconds left in the first quarter. Kerr had a good first half with 92 yards on 15 carries, but the Raiders didn’t have the ball much in the second half and Kerr finished with 110 yards on 25 carries.

On Kerr’s touchdown, the Raiders were called for unsportsmanlike conduct due to excessive celebration. The 15-yard penalty forced Yard to try a 35-yard extra point, which was wide left.

Punxsutawney went up 9-6 on the following drive when Kody Young booted a 31-yard field goal.

Following the kickoff, the Raiders marched from their own 10 to the Chucks’ 25 before the Raiders’ Kennedy was stopped a yard short on a fourth-and-three run.

From there, it was downhill for the Raiders as the Chucks took control in the second half. Brookville reached the Punxsutawney 11 late in the fourth quarter, only to stall on downs on an incomplete pass.

NOTES: Punxsutawney hiked its regular-season winning streak to 17 games, matching its team record set back in 1963-64. It’ll try to make it 10-0 for the first time since 1977. Head coach Alan Nichol played on that team. … The Chucks beat the Raiders twice in a row for the first time since 1995-96. … Punxsutawney was penalized 10 times for 110 yards.

BROOKVILLE 37, PUNXSUTAWNEY 6

Score By Quarters

Brookville       6          0          0          0          —        6

Punxsy            6          3          14        14        —        37

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

P - Corban Cressley 11 pass from Logan Weaver (kick blocked), 3:33.

B - Ryan Kerr 3 run (kick failed), :14.

Second Quarter

P - Kody Young 31 kick, 6:53.

Third Quarter

P - Glenn Perry 2 run (Young kick), 7:21.

P - Zak Dickey 10 pass from Logan Weaver (Young kick), 1:55.

Fourth Quarter

P - Logan Weaver 8 run (Young kick), 10:14.

P - Zak Dickey 5 pass from Logan Weaver (Young kick), 7:41.

                                    B                     P

First Downs                12                    19

Rushes-Yards              40-164             35-107

Passing Yards             70                    217

Comp-Att-Int              4-13-1              16-24-0

Total Yardage             234                  324

Punts-Average                        2-35.6              2-26

Fumbles-lost                2-2                   1-0

Penalties-Yards           6-52                 10-110

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - Brookville: Ryan Kerr 25-110, Steven Kennedy 9-27, Conan Gilhousen 2-16, Jacob Cieleski 2-8, Cameron Yard 1-3, Dakota Singleton 1-0. Punxsutawney: Ben Blazavich 13-33, Glenn Perry 12-33, Duell Thompson 4-31, Logan Weaver 6-10.

Passing - Brookville: Steven Kennedy 4-of-12, 70 yards; Cameron Yard 0-for-1, 1 Int. Punxsutawney: Logan Weaver 16-of-24, 217 yards, 3 TDs.

Receiving - Brookville: Jared Heschke 3-38, Brock Bietz 1-32. Punxsutawney: Zak Dickey 6-68, Ben Blazavich 4-74, Duell Thompson 4-52, Ian Weaver 1-12, Corban Cressley 1-11.

Interceptions - Punxsutawney: Duell Thompson.

Sacks – Brookville: Jordan Young. Punxsutawney: Tige Woodson.

Kick returns – Brookville: Cameron Yard 6-43, Sebastian Kerr 1-2. Punxsutawney: Zak Dickey 1-25, Duell Thompson 1-20.

Punt returns – Punxsutawney: Ben Blazavich 1-12.

Punting – Brookville: Jordan Young 2-71 (long 38). Punxsutawney: Garrett Zimmerman 2-52 (long 33).