By Rich Rhoades

KNOX – It’s hard to make history in a 7-6 win, but the Keystone Panthers did on a rainy night against visiting Brookville.

The Panthers cashed in on a Raiders turnover for a first-quarter touchdown and then stopped the Raiders’ two-point conversion try late in the fourth quarter to preserve their one-point win.     

Since the Keystone jointure came together before the 1959 season, the Panthers had never played in a 7-6 game. Now they’re 1-0 in them after playing 470 games.

Not that teams should have great records in games they score less than 10 points, but the Panthers won a game with 10 or less points scored for the first time in 17 years, or 1992 when they beat Clarion 6-0. Keystone is now 7-174-4 in 51 seasons in games it’s scored 10 or less points.

Keystone improved to 6-2 and is one of four teams — Clarion, Curwensville and Coudersport as well — with that record in the District 9 Class A playoff race. Up to three of those teams will get a first-round home game assuming the playoff field is eight teams.

For Brookville, its Class AA playoff chances dimmed a bit, but not entirely since Kane lost to Brockway Friday night. With Karns City, Moniteau and Brockway now assured three of the four berths, it’ll come down to the Raiders and Wolves for the fourth and final spot.

It’s been a tough-luck season for the Raiders (3-5), who forfeited their season-opening win to Union, lost in double-overtime the following week to Bellefonte and now have a one-point loss to Keystone. Even the Raiders’ win over Redbank Valley was in overtime.

Clearly the field conditions limited both offenses. The Panthers won despite gaining just 88 yards of offense compared to 182 by Brookville, including just 25 yards in the second half. Three plays after recovering a Kyle Galbraith fumble at the Raiders’ 7, quarterback Dan Reed threw an 8-yard TD pass to Brett Zuck on third-and-goal on the next-to-last play of the first quarter.

Then in perhaps the play of the game, the placement in muddy conditions was made despite a high snap and kicker Dylan Ziegler put the ball through the uprights for the seventh point.

“Usually we set up our run with our passing game and with that not being a threat, it was hard for us to run the ball,” Keystone head coach Jason Nellis said. “I told the guys at the beginning it’s probably going to come down to a turnover or some type of special teams blunder, so I’m proud of them.”

Reed, the second-leading passer in District 9, completed just 4 of 8 passes for 20 yards and was intercepted twice. Even though Zach Smith did rush for 103 yards on 17 carries, the Panthers finished with 68 yards rushing as a team because of a couple bad snaps and kneel downs.

Enter the Panthers’ defense, a vastly improved unit that’s helped the team cut its points per game allowed average from 43.1 last year to 21 this year.

“We’re pretty proud of our defense. I think we’ve played decent defense this year, with the exception of Karns City,” Nellis said. “On a night like this, there probably weren’t going to be a lot of points and took away the passing game. We had a lot of seniors in there and they stepped up there and made some plays.”

Senior Lexan Montana intercepted two passes for two of the four Brookville turnovers. The Raiders failed to complete a pass.

The Raiders mounted their scoring drive on their first possession of the fourth quarter. Ethan Harmon’s 13-yard punt return set the Raiders up at the Keystone 43 with 9:01 on the clock. A nine-play drive, eight of them runs by Harmon, finished on Harmon’s 3-yard run around the left end with 5:09 remaining.

With the muddy field conditions, especially in the middle of the field, the decision was made to go for two instead of risking a botched point-after kick. The Raiders ran the same play, this time with Harmon going around the right end, but he didn’t find the end zone as he was tackled and pushed out of bounds about a yard short of the goal line.

The Raiders forced Keystone to go three-and-out and punt. Kyle Galbraith’s 31-yard punt return put Brookville at the Keystone 36 with 2:57 remaining. A 12-yard run by Galbraith got the Raiders to the 24, but on a fourth-and-3 from the Keystone 15 three plays later, a fumbled snap ended the Raiders night.

Harmon led the Raiders with 96 yards rushing on 23 carries and Galbraith finished with 74 yards on 12 carries.

KEYSTONE 7, BROOKVILLE 6

Score By Quarters

Brookville       0          0          0          6          —        6

Keystone         7          0          0          0          —        7

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

K - Brett Zuck 8 pass from Dan Reed (Dylan Ziegler kick), :13.

Fourth Quarter

B - Ethan Harmon 3 run (run failed), 5:09.

                                                B                     K

First Downs                            9                      4

Rushes-Yards                          47-182             34-68

Passing Yards                         0                      20

Comp-Att-Int                          0-5-2                4-8-2

Total Yardage                         182                  88

Punts-Average                                    4-29.5              5-39

Fumbles-lost                            3-2                   2-1

Penalties-Yards                       3-20                 2-15

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - Brookville: Ethan Harmon 23-96, Kyle Galbraith 12-74, Ryan Kerr 4-16, Tyler Dombrowski 8-(-4). Keystone: Zach Smith 17-103, Zach Baughman 2-5, Dan Reed 9-(-5), Team 6-(-35).

Passing - Brookville: Tyler Dombrowski 0-for-4, 1 Int.; Garrett Weaver 0-for-1, Int. Keystone: Dan Reed 4-for-8, 20 yards, 1 TD, 2 Ints.

Receiving - Keystone: Ben Marchand 2-15, Brett Zuck 1-8, B.J. Seyler 1-(-3).

Interceptions - Brookville: Ethan Harmon, Tyler Dombrowski. Keystone: Lexan Montana 2.

Sacks – Brookville: Zane Hackett, Garrett Weaver. Keystone: Kyle McCall.

Kick returns — Brookville: Quran Norris 1-25, Kyle Galbraith 1-7. Keystone: James Gillen 1-11, Ben Marchand 1-0.

Punt returns — Brookville: Ethan Harmon 1-31.