By Rich Rhoades

BROOKVILLE — After shutting down Redbank Valley for a little over 47 minutes, Brookville wound up holding off the Bulldogs in a strange-ending 21-14 Senior Night victory Friday.

The Raiders (7-2) held the Bulldogs (5-5) to 85 yards and seven first downs until the final 4:32 of the game. But following Conan Gilhousen’s 3-yard run that gave the Raiders a 21-0 advantage, the Bulldogs made things interesting.

Redbank Valley went 80 yards on nine plays and scored on quarterback Brandon Bain’s 1-yard run with 1:05 remaining. The Bulldogs then recovered an onside kick and turned that into points when Bain hit Caleb Smith on a 3-yard TD pass with 9.1 seconds remaining.

While the Bulldogs, out of timeouts, failed to recover their next onside kick, they still got another chance when the Raiders elected to throw the ball instead of ending the game with a kneel-down. Quarterback Steven Kennedy, looking for Jared Heschke downfield, faked a kneel-down and tossed the ball into double coverage with Bain intercepting the ball at the Raiders’ 30 with 1.2 seconds on the clock.

On the last play of the game, Bain threw a short pass to Keaton Delp. He managed to reach the Raiders’ 33 before being tackled.

While the Raiders are headed to the first round of a three-team District 9 Class AA playoffs next week against Moniteau, the Bulldogs earned the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference’s top Class A seed — and No. 2 seed overall — thanks to Karns City’s win over Clarion.

Brookville’s defense, even with the crazy ending, earned the win for the Raiders. They limited the Bulldogs to 34 yards in the first half, which was important considering their own struggling offense.

After getting stopped on downs at the Bulldogs’ 22 — their third stalled drive inside the Redbank Valley 25 for the game — the Raiders came up with a huge play when Heschke picked off Bain near midfield and returned the ball 48 yards to the Bulldogs’ 4.

Three plays later Kennedy found Heschke over the middle for a 6-yard TD pass with 22 seconds left in the third quarter to put the Raiders up 14-0. Heschke’s scoring grab broke a tie with Shawn Bailey on the team’s all-time touchdown reception list and now owns the record with 15.

Brookville’s first drive of the game yielded its first touchdown. Kerr capped off a 17-play, 78-yard possession with a 3-yard run. He finished with 77 yards on 25 carries in just the third time he failed to reach 100 in a game this year.

Kennedy rushed for 88 yards on 21 carries and completed 5 of 10 passes for 75 yards.

For Redbank Valley, Bain completed 11 of 29 passes for 141 yards after starting the game 5-of-19 for 26 yards. Keaton Delp caught three passes for 90 yards. Caleb Delp and Kyle Lee each rushed for 47 yards. Caleb Delp missed the fourth quarter with an apparent hamstring injury. His status for next week’s playoff opener is unknown.

BROOKVILLE 21, REDBANK VALLEY 14

Score By Quarters

Redbank        0          0          0          14        —        14

Brookville       7          0          7          7          —        21

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

B - Ryan Kerr 3 run (Cameron Yard kick), 2:26.

Third Quarter

B - Jared Heschke 6 pass from Steven Kennedy (Yard kick), :22.

Fourth Quarter

B - Conan Gilhousen 3 run (Yard kick), 4:32.

R - Brandon Bain 1 run (Bain kick), 1:05.

R - Caleb Smith 3 pass from Brandon Bain (Bain kick), :09.

                                    B                     R

First Downs                16                    13

Rushes-Yards              53-192             29-113

Passing Yards             115                  141

Comp-Att-Int              7-13-1              11-29-1

Total Yardage             307                  254

Punts-Average                        3-23                 6-36

Fumbles-lost                4-2                   2-1

Penalties-Yards           6-65                 2-15

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – Brookville: Steve Kennedy 21-88, Ryan Kerr 25-77, Conan Gilhousen 5-17, Jared Heschke 1-6, Brock Bietz 1-4. Redbank Valley: Caleb Delp 10-47, Kyle Lee 8-47, Keaton Delp 2-16, Brandon Bain 9-1.

Passing – Brookville: Steven Kennedy 5-of-10, 75 yards, 1 TD, 1 Int.; Ryan Kerr 1-of-1, 24 yards; Cameron Yard 1-of-1, 16 yards; Brock Bietz 0-of-1. Redbank Valley: Brandon Bain 11-of-29, 141 yards, 1 TD, 1 Int.

Receiving – Brookville: Jared Heschke 2-25, Josh Frondek 1-24, Conan Gilhousen 1-23, Derek Shattenberg 1-20, Aaron Ray 1-16, Jacob Gilhousen 1-7. Redbank Valley: Keaton Delp 3-90, Caleb Delp 4-30, Kyle Lee 1-12, Cole Shirey 1-5, Caleb Delp 1-4, Ryan Rupp 1-0.

Interceptions – Brookville: Jared Heschke. Redbank Valley: Brandon Bain.

Sacks – Redbank Valley: Clay Kennemuth, Ryan Carlson.

Kick returns – Brookville: Cameron Yard 2-16. Redbank Valley: Keaton Delp 2-42.

Punt returns – Brookville: Brandon Brownlee 2-6, Steven Kennedy 1-0.

Punting – Brookville: Jordan Young 3-69 (long 31). Redbank Valley: Brandon Bain 6-216 (long 43).