By Rich Rhoades

CLARION — While his teammates Jared Heschke and Ryan Kerr were breaking team records or reaching milestones, Brookville Raiders quarterback Steve Kennedy was turning in his career-best game in the Raiders’ 28-0 win at Clarion Friday night.

Kennedy had a hand in all four of Brookville’s touchdowns, running for two and passing for two. He completed 8 of 12 passes for a career-high 180 yards while running for 76 yards. His TD passes both went to Heschke on connections of 26 and 67 yards while his runs covered 21 and 3 yards.

“It was probably his best overall game,” Brookville head coach Chris Dworek said. “He is definitely getting it. He’s a hard worker, and he’s hard on himself, which is a good thing.”

Brookville, 7-1 for the first time since 2006, limited Clarion (4-4) to 209 yards of offense and managed to keep the Bobcats off the scoreboard thanks to shutting them down in three trips into the red zone (20-yard line or closer) along with an interception at the 12 on another drive.

It’s the first time the Raiders have shut out the Bobcats in 40 years, dating back to the same 28-0 score in 1970 when Brookville won the Little 10 Conference with an 8-0-1 record.

For Heschke and Kerr, the milestones were significant for the Raiders. Heschke caught four passes for 116 yards to go along with his two touchdowns. Those numbers allowed him to surpass Tyler Ross as the team’s all-time leader in receptions (now 77) and yardage (1,419) while he’s now tied with Shawn Bailey with 14 career touchdown receptions.

“He’s a clutch receiver, he’s ready to go,” Dworek said. “He’s a veteran. He knows the moves, he knows the tricks. He has good hands. He knows to catch it and run and score. It’s a team accomplishment. They’ll remember this night forever. They played with Jared Heschke breaking some all-time records. It’s something they can brag about forever.”

Kerr, with 111 yards on 19 carries, became the seventh Raider to rush for 1,000 yards or more in a season. He now stands at 1,049 for the season. Joe Galbraith was the last Raider to reach 1,000, gaining 1,520 in 2007.

Each team traded drives that stalled on downs at the other’s 9-yard line to start the game. Then the Raiders cashed in on a Clarion turnover when Madison Shobert pounced on quarterback Danny Walters’ fumble at the Bobcats’ 21.

Two plays later Kennedy ran 21 yards for the touchdown with 59 seconds left in the first quarter. Cameron Yard missed the point-after kick.

The Raiders made it 8-0 when the Bobcats botched a punt snap in their own end zone. Walters, the punter, was tackled in the end zone for the safety with 7:20 left in the second quarter.

The Bobcats threatened to score twice before the end of the half. Walters’ deep pass from the Raiders’ 43 was picked off by Tyler Dombrowski at the 12 with 3:40 left and with no time on the clock due to a Raiders pass interference penalty, Walters’ pass to the end zone from the 20 intended for Bryce Straffin fell incomplete.

Brookville took command of the game by scoring in its first three possessions of the second half on possessions that all started deep in its own territory.

The Raiders made it 14-0 when they took the second-half kickoff and drove 78 yards on seven plays. Kennedy hit Heschke for the 26-yarder at the 9:38 mark. After forcing the Bobcats to punt, the Raiders march 81 yards on 10 plays with Kennedy’s 3-yarder making it 21-0.

Kennedy and Kerr had runs of 22 and 25 yards respectively to start the drive and Kennedy’s 26-yard pass to Jacob Snyder gave the Raiders the ball at the Bobcats’ 16. On the play before Kennedy’s TD run, lineman Justin Snyder recovered Kerr’s fumble at the 3.

The Bobcats reached the Raiders’ 19 on the ensuing drive before stalling on downs, allowing the Raiders to mount their final scoring drive, an 81-yard possession that took just five plays.

Kennedy’s high, arcing pass from the Raiders’ 33 to the Bobcats’ 30 turned into a jump ball for the 6-foot-4 Heschke, who out jumped a Bobcat defender, caught the ball and ran the rest of the way for the touchdown.

Yard’s point-after kick finished off the scoring with 7:07 remaining.

Clarion quarterback Danny Walters led the Bobcats with 62 yards rushing. He completed 5 of 13 passes for 58 yards after taking over for starter Brandon Heeter, who was injured in the first quarter. Kris Burkhart gained 40 yards on 16 carries.

“We’ve changed things up to kind of feature (Brandon) at the quarterback and move Danny to a lot of different places,” Clarion head coach Judd Allan said. “You don’t come in planning (on Heeter getting hurt). It did change up what we wanted to do a lot.”

The Bobcats’ Marcus Smerker, the team’s second-leading rusher this year, missed the game with an injury. The Raiders also had a smattering of injury issues as well as fullback/linebacker Jacob Cieleski and offensive lineman A.J. Skerkavich missed the game with injuries. The Raiders also lost two starting defensive players — safety Brock Bietz and linebacker Garret Weaver — early in the game to injuries along with receiver Jacob Snyder in the second half.

NOTES: Next up for the Raiders is a trip to Punxsutawney next Friday with the winner winning the first-ever KSAC Large School Division title. … Clarion, meanwhile, hosts Clarion-Limestone in a KSAC Small School Division game. The Bobcats might already have the division title wrapped up, but the conference needs to vote on whether the head-to-head tiebreaker will be used if needed. The Bobcats are 4-0 in division games compared to Redbank Valley’s 3-1 mark. Clarion beat Redbank Valley, 21-19, back in Week 5.

BROOKVILLE 28, CLARION 0

Score by Quarters

Brookville 6 2 13 7 – 28

Clarion 0 0 0 0 – 0

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

B – Steven Kennedy 27 run (Cam Yard kick failed), 0:59

Second Quarter

B – Team safety (Clarion punter tackles in end zone), 7:20

Third Quarter

B – Jared Heschke 26 pass from Kennedy (Yard kick failed), 9:38

B – Kennedy 3 run (Yard kick), 2:15

Fourth Quarter

B – Heschke 67 pass from Kennedy (Yard kick), 7:07

            B         C

First Downs    19        10

Rushes-Yards 39-210 38-99

Passing Yards 180      110

Passing: Comp-Att-Int            8-13-0  10-21-1

Total Yardage 390      209

Fumbles-Lost  2-1       3-1

Penalties-Yards           3-25     2-19

Punts-Avg.      3-27.3  3-36.3

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – Brookville: Ryan Kerr 19-111, Steven Kennedy 10-64, Conan Gilhousen 8-27, Jared Heschke 1-0, Nate Bonfardine 1-minus 1. Clarion: Danny Walters 12-62, Kris Burkhart 16-40, Lewis Armstrong 4-18, Damien Slike 1-0, Camron Kirkland 2-minus 2, Anthony Beveridge 1-minus 3, Team 1-minus 7, Brandon Heeter 1-minus 9.

Passing – Brookville: Steven Kennedy 8-for-12, 180 yards, 2 touchdowns; Jared Heschke 0-for-1. Clarion: Danny Walters 5-for-13, 58 yards, 1 interception; Brandon Heeter 2-for-3, 12 yards; John Katis 2-for-3, 12 yards; Team 0-for-1.

Receiving – Brookville: Jared Heschke 4-116, Jacob Snyder 1-26, Sebastian Kerr 1-19, Derek Shattenberg 1-13, Ryan Kerr 1-6. Clarion: Camron Kirkland 3-21, Brandon Samulewski 2-12, Mitch Rhoades 1-32, Kris Burkhart 1-15, Danny Walters 1-13, Bryce Straffin 1-8, Mike Smith 1-4, Damien Slike 0-5.

Interceptions – Brookville: Tyler Dombrowski.

Fumble Recoveries – Brookville: Madison Shobert. Clarion: Danny Walters.

Fumbles Forced – Clarion: Cameron Slike, Brandon Samulewski.

Sacks – Brookville: Adam Dennison 1, Garrett Weaver 1, Conan Gilhousen ½, Josh Frondek ½. Clarion: Danny Walters ½, Ian Matson ½.