JOHNSONBURG 7, BROCKWAY 6

Oct. 6, 2006

BROCKWAY – While the easy way to define Johnsonburg’s game against Brockway would be a struggle, Rams coach Tom Launer had his own phrase to sum up the contest.

"A win’s a win," Launer said after the Rams escaped Brockway with a 7-6 victory over the Rovers Friday night.

Johnsonburg (5-1) mustered only 143 yards of total offense, but one touchdown combined with a smothering defensive effort equaled the Rams’ fifth win of 2006.

The deciding points came on the first possession of the second half. The Rovers (2-4) appeared to have earned a three and out stop when the Rams came up two yards short of a first down on their third down play. On fourth down, the Rams lined up in a punting formation, but Calvin Grumley picked his way through the Brockway defense for 12 yards and a critical first down.

Launer said he allows Grumley, who serves as punter for Johnsonburg, to make his own call on how to proceed once he gets those fourth down snaps.

"It’s Calvin’s call," Launer said. "If he thinks he can run, we let him determine that. He’s such a good open-field runner. The one where he took the ball up the middle, we don’t even practice that. We practice with it going to the outside. He took it up the middle on his own."

On the next play after the fourth down conversion, Grumley threw a strike to a streaking John Yonker for 37 yards to get inside the Brockway 5-yard line.

"I ran a post to the inside, and Calvin made a nice throw," Yonker said. "He had really good blocking from the line on that play."

Mark Myers bullied his way into the end zone on the next play, and Grumley added the game-winning extra point to make the score 7-0 with 10:48 to play in the third quarter.

Late in the third quarter, the Rovers made a bid to even the score.

On fourth-and-goal from the 7-yard line, quarterback Anthony Varischetti rolled around the right side and tucked the football just inside the pylon to cut the lead to 7-6. On the extra point, Varischetti bobbled the snap, and tried to run in for two points. But the Rams cut him off before he could reach the front left corner of the end zone.

Brockway had two opportunities to pull out the win in the fourth quarter.

After a 23-yard connection from Varischetti to Camdon Makay put the Rovers at the Rams’ 47, two running plays moved Brockway to the 41-yard line. The Rovers were pushed backwards from there, though, as an 8-yard loss on a screen pass and a sack gave possession back to the Rams.

The Rovers’ last chance came with just over two minutes to play.

They drove to near midfield before Varischetti’s pass deep down the left sideline was intercepted on a diving, juggling play by Yonker which sealed the game.

"It is one of the biggest interceptions I’ve had," Yonker said. "We knew they were going to throw. The quarterback overthrew the pass and I just had to make the catch."

Launer applauded the work of his defense, which held Brockway to 131 total yards of offense.

"The defense exploded tonight," Launer said. "We hadn’t had a sack in our last two games. We’re an attacking defense. We wanted to get penetration and keep Varischetti inside. It was a really good defensive performance."

The offense was not at peak level, but it was good enough for the win.

Grumley was limited to 53 yards through the air and 25 on the ground. Johnsonburg’s offense had a particularly rough time during a first half which Yonker thought he and his teammates came out flat.

"We came in thinking we were the better team," Yonker said. "The first half was a shock. This game and the Curwensville loss, it’s a wake-up call for us."

Launer gave the credit for his team’s difficult evening to an inspired performance by the Rovers.

"Brockway played very well, and we didn’t play particularly well," Launer said. "A lot of the reason we didn’t play well though was Brockway."

The Rams will once again be on the road next week at undefeated Coudersport.

The Falcons are currently the only undefeated squad in the Allegheny Mountain League. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Friday

JOHNSONBURG 7, BROCKWAY 6

Johnsonburg 0 0 7 0 - 7

Brockway 0 0 6 0 - 6

Scoring Summary

Third quarter

J - Mark Myers 3-yard run (Calvin Grumley kick), 10:48

B - Anthony Varischetti 7-yard run (conversion failed), 1:51

Team stats J C

First downs 8 8

Total yards 143 131

Carries-yards 33-90 43-76

Passing yards 53 55

Penalties-yards 4-36 3-25

Turnovers 2 1

Passing - Johnsonburg: Grumley 3-10-53-1. Brockway: Varischetti 4-8-55-1, Camdon Makay 0-1-0-0, Matthew Pentz 0-1-0-0, Mark Shannon 0-1-0-0.

Rushing - Johnsonburg: Grumley 17-25, Jesse Dennis 9-25, Myers 6-22, John Yonker 1-18. Brockway: Dillon Park 21-94, Andrew Linden 5-7, Armando Fortunato 6-5, Varischetti 11-(-30).

Receiving - Johnsonburg: Yonker 1-37, Dennis 1-8, Zane Zelehoski 1-8. Brockway: Steffan Hutchins 1-38, Makay 1-23, Linden 1-2, Park 1-(-8).