Bryan Swan

For D9Sports.com

EMPORIUM — The Cameron County losing streak in the Allegheny Mountain League title game continued Friday night as the Red Raiders were dominated by Brockway, 57-22.

Cameron County has now lost in each of the past four seasons in the AML Championship Game. The Rovers won their first AML crown since 2003 as they improved to 10-0 on the season.

“It’s nice to win (the AML title),” Brockway head coach Frank Varischetti said. “It was one of our main goals at the beginning of the year. Hopefully, it’s just a start of things to come. They kids are very excited right now and they should be. We’ve worked hard and we’ve overcame a lot of injuries this year. They’ve done a heck of a job.”

Brockway controlled the game from about start to finish.

Cameron County (7-3) gained a bit of life in the second quarter, when Ryan Grimm deflected a Derek Buganza screen pass and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown. Val Thompson’s extra point with 9:44 on the clock gave the Red Raiders a 15-14 advantage.

The Red Raiders couldn’t slow Brockway’s offense though. The Rovers scored three touchdowns in a span of 4:35 to go up 35-15 with 4:05 left in the first half.

Zack Freemer started the run for Brockway scoring the first of his three touchdowns on the night with a 47-yard run on fourth down to regain the Rovers’ lead at 20-15 after Phil Esposito added the extra point with 8:40 on the clock.

Cameron County fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and Brockway took advantage of the short field when Freemer scored from one yard out six plays later.

The Red Raiders turned the ball over three times in the second quarter and they recorded six turnovers in all in the contest. Brockway scored 14 points off turnovers in the second quarter and 26 total points off turnovers.

“It seemed from the second quarter on that everything just fell apart,” Cameron County head coach Mark Morelli said. “Brockway took control of the game offensively, defensively, the whole way around.”

Joe Caruso’s interception set up the Rovers third score of the second quarter when Buganza tossed his second touchdown of the night to Chris Marshall that went for 14 yards.

“We challenged our kids,” Morelli said. “We wanted to see where we stood. For the first quarter and a half, I thought we played all right. We didn’t take advantage of the mistakes that Brockway made.”

The Red Raiders scored all 22 of their points in the second quarter. Jason Blose rushed for his second touchdown in the contest with a 1-yard run with just over two minutes left to set the score at the half, 35-22.

Freemer finished with 128 total yards (69 rushing and 59 receiving) and he also returned a fumble 23 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter as the Rovers scored the game’s final 22 points in the second half.

Marshall caught one score and he ran for another. He totaled 61 rushing yards on 12 carries and he made four receptions for 41 yards.

Buganza completed 16 of 25 passes for 282 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. 

Jake Shaffer caught three balls for 118 yards, including a 33-yard touchdown pass. Mike Vervoort had a team-high five catches for 64 yards.

Caruso and Trevor Hartless had two interceptions each for the Rovers, while Grimm finished with two for the Red Raiders.

Brockway held Blose to just 25 yards on 12 carries. He also caught two passes for 48 yards and he threw one interception.

Quarterback Zach Austin was picked off three times and finished five of 13 for 106 yards. The junior qb finished with negative-37 rushing yards on 10 attempts.

Overall, the Red Raiders were held to just 55 rushing yards on 38 carries.

BROCKWAY 57, CAMERON COUNTY 22

Score By Quarters

Brockway       14        21        13        9          —        57

Cameron        0          22        0          0          —        22

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

B - Derek Buganza 11 run (Phil Esposito kick), 8:43.

B - Jake Shaffer 33 pass from Buganza (Esposito kick), 0:30.

Second Quarter

C - Jason Blose 25 run (Ryan Grimm from Vince Summers), 9:52.

C - Grimm 29 interception return (Val Thompson kick), 9:44.

B - Zack Freemer 47 run (Esposito kick), 8:40.

B - Freemer 1 run (Esposito kick), 6:45.

B - Chris Marshall 14 pass from Buganza (Esposito kick), 4:05.

C - Blose 1 run (Thompson kick), 2:04.

Third Quarter

B - Marshall 11 run (Esposito kick), 7:59.

B - Freemer 23 fumble return (Kick failed), 7:42.

Fourth Quarter

B - Esposito 27 field goal, 7:39.

B - Houston Fairman 51 run (Run failed), 5:04.

            B         C

First Downs    19        12

Rushes-Yards  34-196 38-55

Passing Yards 282      113

Comp-Att-Int  16-25-2            6-17-4

Total Yardage 478      168

Punts-Average            2-23     4-32.5

Fumbles-lost    0-0       3-2

Penalties-Yards           8-60     3-15

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - Brockway: Chris Marshall 12-61, Zack Freemer 8-69, Mike Vervoort 6-6, Derek Buganza 5-4, Houston Fairman 2-57, Team 1-(-1). Cameron County: Jason Blose 12-25, Zach Austin 10-(-37), Andrew Fragale 8-26, Jason Shaw 1-(-1), Chance Goodrow 1-6, Andrew Lathrop 1-(-3), Taylor Saline 4-43, Team 1-(-4).

Passing - Brockway: Derek Buganza 16 of 25, 282 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT. Cameron County: Zach Austin 5 of 13, 106 yards, 0 TD, 3 INT; Jason Blose 0 of 1, 0 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT; Taylor Saline 1 of 3, 7 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT.

Receiving - Brockway: Zack Freemer 3-59, Kyle Braun 1-0, Chris Marshall 4-41, Jake Shaffer 3-118, Mike Vervoort 5-64. Cameron County: Jason Blose 2-48, Ryan Grimm 1-6, Vince Summers 1-35, Andrew Fragale 1-17, Devon Mason 1-7.

Interceptions - Brockway: Joe Caruso 2, Trevor Hartless 2. Cameron County: Ryan Grimm 2.