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BROCKWAY 22, MONITEAU 20 |
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Nov. 19, 2005 - District 9 Class AA Championship Game |
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CLARION – Just call it Air Reckner.
Brockway passed, yes you are reading this right, Brockway passed its way to the District 9 Class AA title with a 22-20 win over Moniteau Saturday afternoon at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium. The second seeded Rovers (8-3), who have been known as a Wing T running team for years, showed off their new passing game throwing for 228 of their 312 yards in beating back the fifth seeded Warriors (6-6). "Who’d have thought a few years ago that the passing game would win a game like this for us?" Brockway head coach Ray Reckner said. "It’s a credit to the kids and the coaching staff." While Brockway passing its way to its third District 9 title in the past four years might have surprised some novice fans, it shouldn’t have surprised die-hard District 9 football fans. The Rovers have been passing most of the season. In fact this was the sixth game the Rovers passed for at least 100 yards and the second they were over 200 yards passing this season. Because of that new passing attack, quarterback Anthony Varischetti, who was 11 of 21 for 192 yards and a touchdown against Moniteau, is the first Brockway quarterback to go over 1,000 yards passing in a season. He now has 1,154. All but one of the game’s scores came in the first half with Brockway holding a 22-14 lead after a surprisingly high-scoring half. Moniteau got on the board first on a 42-yard Adam Cousins run with 5:18 left in the first quarter. Brockway answered right back and scored on a 1-yard Ben Donlin dive. Matt Taylor then caught the 2-point conversion pass from Varischetti to make it 8-7 Rovers with 4:49 left in the quarter. Early in the second quarter Varischetti found Donlin with a 15-yard touchdown pass that coupled with Donlin’s 2-point run made it 16-7 Brockway with 9:19 left in the half. It was then Moniteau’s turn to answer, and the Warriors did so on an 11-yard pass from Garth Kohlmeyer to Ryan Protzman with 6:20 to play before halftime making it 16-14. Brockway, though, got a late first-half touchdown when Varischetti scored on a 1-yard dive. The score was a tad controversial, as the ball came loose as Varischetti broke the goal line. The officials ruled the ball had crossed the line before it was fumbled. The 2-point conversion was no good, but the Rovers held the 22-14 halftime lead. Moniteau answered back midway through the third quarter when Kohlmeyer hit David Rumbaugh with an 8-yard touchdown pass. But the 2-point conversion run failed leaving Brockway ahead 22-20 with 5:52 to play in the quarter. Brockway had a chance to seal the win, but Andy Fremer couldn’t haul in a fourth-down pass in the end zone with just over five minutes to play. The Warriors, who took over from their own 8-yard line, drove to the Brockway 43 in 10 plays and faced a fourth-and-2. Brockway’s defense rose to the challenge stopping Cousins a yard short of the first down. Donlin then picked up the one first down Brockway needed to ice the game away on a 2-yard run on third-and-1 with 1:04 to play. Cousins led all rushers with 16 carries for 104 yards, while Matt Schandelmeier added 22 totes for 91 yards. Kohlmeyer was 6 of 10 for 72 yards and two TDs. Protzman had four catches for 50 yards and a TD. Donlin ran 18 times for 63 yards to lead Brockway, while Joe Antonuccio had five catches for 95 yards and was 1-for-1 passing for 36 yards, Donlin added five grabs for 91 yards and the touchdown. Brockway now advances to the PIAA Playoffs and will host a District 10 team at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium at 7 p.m. Friday. BROCKWAY 22, MONITEAU 20
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