SLIPPERY ROCK ENDS BROCKWAY'S SEASON

SLIPPERY ROCK (Nov. 14, 2003) – One week ago, Karns City had no answers for the Brockway Rovers’ power running game. It was a different story Friday night.

After plowing over the Gremlins last week, a confident Rovers squad was stopped in its tracks by Slippery Rock in the opening round of the PIAA Class AA playoffs. The Rockets limited the Rovers to a season-low 79 yards rushing and 128 yards of offense in a 13-0 victory in front of a partisan crowd at Slippery Rock University’s N. Kerr Thompson Stadium.

After the Rovers beat Slippery Rock last year, 12-7, for their first-ever state playoff win, the District 10 champion Rockets returned the favor and earned their first state playoff victory.

"We beat a very good football tonight," said Slippery Rock head coach Clyde Conti, the former longtime Clarion-Limestone coach. "Ray Reckner and I are close friends and I have great respect for him. Last year it was them and this year it was us."

Slippery Rock (11-1) advances to the second round of the state playoffs and will face either Forest Hills or Tyrone.

For Brockway, an historic season ended at 11-1.

"We told them they have nothing to be ashamed of," Brockway head coach Ray Reckner said. "They had a great year and did things that no other team from Brockway had ever done. I felt we represented District 9 very well, the community very well and the school district. They left it all on the field. They played with a lot of heart. You can’t ask for more than that from a bunch of kids. Disappointed? Sure. Proud? Absolutely."

Brockway won its first-ever Allegheny Mountain League title and finished the regular season with a perfect record for the first time in team history.

The Rockets (11-1) scored twice in the first half, the first coming after a fumble recovery at the Rovers’ 32 yard-line when Rovers fullback Seth Rhed’s fumble was recovered by Rockets’ defensive back Sean Ray on the third play of the game.

Ten straight running plays produced a touchdown. Trevor Gallo scored on a 4-yard run. Mike McCaffrey’s point-after kick made it 7-0 at the 5:56 mark of the first quarter.

"Fumbling right off the bat didn’t help anything and it gave them momentum," Reckner said.

The momentum actually built after the Rockets stopped the Rovers on the ensuing possession. The drive started with Jeremy Sickeri’s 47-yard run from the Rovers’ 24 to the Rockets’ 29. But four plays yielded only four more yards and Sickeri was dropped for a 3-yard loss on fourth-and-three at the Rockets’ 22.

"I thought we had (responded) when Jeremy made the big run, but then we fizzled out. We just didn’t do anything after that and that’s a tribute to Clyde’s defense," Reckner said.

Sickeri’s long run accounted for most of his team-high 52 yards rushing on six carries. It was just enough to push him over 1,000 for the season. He finished with a team-high 1,022 yards.

"I thought after Sickeri made the long run, we made one simple adjustment defensively and I think it gave them a little bit of a problem," Conti acknowledged.

That was an understatement. Sickeri’s long run produced the team’s only first down of the first half. The Rovers finished with four thanks to two first downs on the final possession of the game.

Slippery Rock’s defensive effort overshadowed a solid performance by the Rovers’ defense. After the Rockets scored on their first possession off the Rovers’ turnover, Slippery Rock failed to gain a first down in the next four possessions and turned it over once on Sickeri’s interception of Rockets sophomore Ben Collins near midfield at the end of the first quarter.

Slippery Rock gained 216 yards, 181 of it on the ground. Gallo led the way with 73 yards on only six carries. Fullback Travis Sarver finished with 70 yards on 25 attempts. Sophomore running back Sean Ray, who came in with a team-leading 1,328 yards and combined with Sarver for over 2,500 yards this year, was limited to three yards on eight carries.

"Both defenses I thought played better than the offenses on both sides," Reckner said. "Offensively, neither team really mounted a whole lot."

But the Rockets scored the crucial second touchdown with a nifty 74-yard drive just before halftime.

Starting at their own 26 -- their next-to-worse start of a possession -- the Rockets used eight plays to find the end zone. The big play set it up, Gallo’s 45-yard run from the Rockets’ 37 to the Rovers’ 18.

Four plays later, the Rockets found themselves with a fourth-and-eight at the Rovers’ 16 with 15.9 seconds on the clock and no timeouts. Collins wound up scrambling for the first down and went out of bounds at the Rovers’ 3 with 6.7 seconds on the clock.

Then Collins found tight end Rich Lee in the front corner of the end zone for the touchdown pass with 3.3 seconds on the clock. It was Collins’ first of only two completions in the game.

"Fourth down and eight and the quarterback scrambles for a first down and goes out of bounds and stops the clock," said Reckner, shaking his head. "Then he hits the tight end Rich Lee. We knew they were going to go to him. He ran a nice route and our coverage wasn’t bad but he made the catch."

The missed point-after kick set what would turn out to be the final score.

In the second half, the Rovers got past midfield once and stopped two Rockets scoring threats.

The Rovers started at their own 45 on the second possession of the half, but couldn’t manage a first down. Martino’s run off a fake punt on fourth-and-two gave Slippery Rock the ball at the Rovers’ 44.

Slippery Rock drove to the Rovers’ 7 before Sarver was hit hard and fumbled. Rovers linebacker Ben Donlin recovered at the Rovers’ 1.

The Rovers gained their second first down of the game on a fourth-and-one play from their own 10. But they wound up punting four plays later.

Slippery Rock started at the Rovers’ 28 and while the Rockets were more concerned with running out the clock, they moved to the Rovers’ 1 before stalling on downs. The possession took nine minutes to go 27 yards on 14 plays.

The Rovers then ran out the final 1:21, finishing on the short end of a shutout defeat for the first time since dropping a 46-0 decision to Karns City in the 2001 District 9 Class AA Championship game.

S – Trevor Gallo 4 run (Mike McCaffrey kick), 5:56.

S – Rich Lee 3 pass from Ben Collins (kick failed), :03.

                                                        B                 S

First Downs                                 4                 9

Rushes-Yards                             32-79         49-181

Passing: Comp-Att-Int.             4-10-0         2-5-1

Passing Yards                             49                 35

Total Yards                                 128             216

Fumbles-Lost                             2-1             3-1

Punts-Avg.                                 6-30.3         5-35.0

Penalties-Yards                         4-31             6-56

Rushing – Brockway: Jeremy Sickeri 6-52, Seth Rhed 11-26, Andy Martino 9-9, Kyle Smith 1-3, John Himes 4-(-3), Matt Foradora 1-(-8). Slippery Rock: Travis Sarver 25-70, Trevor Gallo 6-73, Ben Collins 10-35, Sean Ray 8-3.

Passing – Brockway: John Himes 3-for-9, 41 yards; Andy Martino 1-for-1, 8 yards. Slippery Rock: Ben Collins 2-for-5, 35 yards, 1 TD, 1 Int.

Receiving – Brockway: Andy Martino 2-25, Jeremy Sickeri 1-16, John Himes 1-3. Slippery Rock: Mike McCaffrey 1-32, Rich Lee 1-3.

Interceptions -- Brockway: Jeremy Sickeri.

Sacks -- Slippery Rock: Steve Wagner.

Kick returns – Brockway: Andy Martino 1-19, Seth Rhed 1-10, Bobby Liddle 1-5. Slippery Rock: Cody Smith 1-13.

Punt returns – Brockway: Bobby Liddle 1-11, Jeremy Sickeri 2-(-1). Slippery Rock: Travis Sarver 1-1.