Some of the information for this story is courtesy of the DuBois Courier-Express

DUBOIS – Step aside Air Rovers, Air Beavers is about to begin.

Frank Varischetti, the architect of the high-flying offense at Brockway the past four seasons is making the 11 mile trek down Route 219 to become the head coach at DuBois.

“It’s probably one of the hardest decisions I’ve made in my life with the family ties, playing here (at Brockway) and living here (in Brockway) to leave,” Varischetti, whose grandfather has the football field at Brockway named after him, told the DuBois Courier-Express. “But It wasn’t a difficult decision to accept the position (at DuBois). I’ve already gotten a few texts from friends and players that are happy for me. So that feels very good.”

Varischetti, who was 30-16 in his four seasons at Brockway, led the Rovers to the District 9 Class AA title this season and the second round of the PIAA Class AA playoffs. Brockway finished with a record of 12-1.

DuBois, meanwhile, went 4-6 under sixth-year head coach Jason Shilala and lost its final three games and four of its last five. The Beavers went just 25-37 in Shilala’s six season with the lone winning season coming at 8-2 his first year in 2005.

At Brockway, Varischetti was responsible for overseeing the transition from the Wing-T offense that had made the Rovers so successful under long-time head coach Ray Reckner to a full-out spread-formation that ended up helping quarterback Derek Buganza become the all-time leading passer in Pennsylvania history with 9,752 career yards. In addition to being a two-time The Rehab Centre D9sports.com Offensive Player of the Year, Buganza was named the Pennsylvania Sports Writers Class AA Player of the Year and the Pennsylvania Football News Class AA Co-Player of the Year in 2010.

Varischetti also coached the 2010 The Rehab Centre D9Sports.com Most Valuable Player Mike Vervoort, who nearly pulled off a double 1,000-yard season finishing with 922 yards rushing and 911 yards receiving. He was a 1,000-yard receiver in 2009.

This is the second time in 10 years DuBois, the lone Class AAAA team in District 9 who is on its third head coach since 2000, has hired the head coach of the District 9 Class AA champion.

In 2000, the Beavers hired former Karns City head coach Lon Hazlet, who had won a pair of Class AA titles with the Gremlins. But that didn’t work out very well, as Hazlet went 17-33 in five years for an average of 3.4 wins per season. Only his final team in 2004 had a winning record at 6-4 while in 2002 DuBois went 0-10, the first winless season for the Beavers in 91 years.

Meanwhile, since Hazlet left Karns City, the Gremlins have averaged 8.8 wins per year and are 97-31 with one losing season and five District 9 Class AA titles.

“This town (DuBois) is hungry for success,” Varischetti told the Courier-Express. “I feel the program is a sleeping giant. They have great facilities, I know a lot of their kids with their friendship with the kids from Brockway and I feel with my type of offense we can be successful.”