By Rich Rhoades

CLARION — What a difference a year makes.

Everybody knew the Brockway Rovers were going to score points this year, but the question on how many they would give up was first and foremost on their minds in the offseason.

So after losing 42-40 in last year’s District 9 Class AA Championship game to Karns City and giving up 124 points in its last three postseason games, Brockway blanked Brookville, 50-0, for its first district title since 2003.

“I think they’re tired of people telling them they’re no good,” Rovers head coach Frank Varischetti said. “We knew we had to make strides on the defensive side of the ball to be competitive this year in the state playoffs and feel we’ve done that. Coach Pisarchik is doing an excellent job game-planning and putting kids in position to make plays and they’re making them.”

The shutout of the Raiders was the first by the Rovers in four years under Varischetti, whose 11-0 team will play 4-6 Oliver of the Pittsburgh City League next Friday night also at Clarion University

A much-improved defense thrown together with Rovers quarterback Derek Buganza’s monster performance — 14-of-16 for 302 yards and five touchdown passes — and four Brookville turnovers meant a 36-0 lead by halftime. The PIAA Mercy Rule’s running clock was in motion starting after halftime and the lopsided score was largest margin of victory in District 9 championship game history.

“It feels great,” Varischetti said of Brockway’s first title since 2003 and fifth overall. “We were a little worried coming into the game. Brookville had a good offense and a decent defense coming into the game. I was very happy with way we won the turnover battle. I thought that was huge and a couple of big stops we had in our own territory early in the game, we just built on that momentum with those stops there.”

The final score masks a key stretch late in the first half where the Raiders, trailing 14-0, went 68 yards on 11 plays before the Rovers stopped Conan Gilhousen on fourth-and-one at the 9. On the next play, Buganza’s screen pass to Kyle Braun turned into a 91-yard touchdown pass.

“Kyle Braun’s catch and run was great,” Varischetti said. “That broke the game open for us. That got them out of their game plan of trying to run it down our throat and got them out of their comfort zone a little bit.”

After the ensuing kickoff, Raiders quarterback Steven Kennedy was intercepted by Joe Caruso on the first play at the Rovers’ 44. It took the Rovers just three plays to score again on Buganza’s 30-yard pass to Jake Shaffer.

From there, the Raiders fumbled away the Rovers kickoff and two plays after that, Chris Marshall ran one in from 10 yards out to give the Rovers a 36-0 lead with 55.6 seconds on the first-half clock.

Game over, for sure, thanks to 22 points, using just six plays in a span of 1:36.

“The simple thing is that the wheels fell off and we just couldn’t recover,” Raiders head coach Chris Dworek said. “It might have one little thing here and 7-0 and a little thing here and 14-0 and it just gets out of hand. You try, try, try and nothing worked out.”

“Turnovers were definitely the biggest part of the game,” Varischetti said. “We started out with one ourselves. I told our kids before we came out that was one of the things that could beat us if we turned the ball over. The defense did great down there. We stopped them, got the ball back and scored. Really, we got stopped once all night with our first group, so offensively, we were really executing and clicking.”

The Rovers fumbled away the opening kickoff, but the Raiders, given good field position starting at the Rovers’ 34, couldn’t cash in on the giveaway as Kennedy missed Jared Heschke on a pass to the end zone on fourth-and-three at the 27.

From there, the Rovers scored in seven of their eight possessions, including the first two of the second half.

Buganza threw passes to five different receivers, four of them catching TD passes. Mike Vervoort caught six passes for 97 yards and scored on a 41-yard pass from Buganza to start the second half.

The Rovers did a good job containing Raiders 1,000-yard rusher Ryan Kerr, who ran for 99 yards on 20 carries. Marshall led the Rovers with 48 yards on 12 carries.

NOTES – Buganza became the first quarterback in Pennsylvania history to top the 9,000-yard mark for his career. He has 9.254 career yards including 584 in his last two games. The five touchdown passes give him 91 for his career.

BROCKWAY 50, BROOKVILLE 0

Score By Quarters

Brookville       0          0          0          0          —        0

Brockway       14        22        14        0          —        50

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

BW - Chris Marshall 17 pass from Derek Buganza (Philip Esposito kick), 9:25.

BW - Jake Shaffer 6 pass from Derek Buganza (Philip Esposito kick), 3:44.

Second Quarter

BW - Kyle Braun 91 pass from Derek Buganza (Mike Vervoort pass from Derek Buganza), 2:31.

BW - Jake Shaffer 30 pass from Derek Buganza (Philip Esposito kick), 1:36.

BW - Chris Marshall 10 run (Philip Esposito kick), :55.

Third Quarter

BW - Mike Vervoort 41 pass from Derek Buganza (Philip Esposito kick), 4:58.

BW - Zack Freemer 1 run (Philip Esposito kick), 2:31.

                                    BK                  BW

First Downs                13                    15

Rushes-Yards              45-155             27-63

Passing Yards             74                    302

Comp-Att-Int              6-14-1              14-16-0

Total Yardage             229                  365

Punts-Average                        1-37                 2-34

Fumbles-lost                4-3                   1-1

Penalties-Yards           3-35                 2-20

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - Brookville: Ryan Kerr 20-99, Conan Gilhousen 9-56, Brock Bietz 1-9, Cameron Yard 7-6, Steven Kennedy 7-6, Team 1-(-21). Brockway: Chris Marshall 12-48, Derek Buganza 5-9, Mike Vervoort 2-5, Zack Freemer 5-4, Houston Fairman 3-(-3).

Passing - Brookville: Steven Kennedy 5-of-12, 36 yards, 1 Int.; Cameron Yard 1-for-2, 38 yards. Brockway: Derek Buganza 14-of-16, 302 yards, 5 TDs.

Receiving - Brookville: Jared Heschke 2-43, Derek Shattenberg 1-15, Sebastian Kerr 1-9, Ryan Kerr 1-5, Brock Bietz 1-2. Brockway: Mike Vervoort 6-97, Kyle Braun 2-97, Jake Shaffer 3-46, Chris Marshall 2-37, Zack Freemer 1-25.

Interceptions - Brockway: Joe Caruso.

Sacks - Brookville: Conan Gilhousen, Josh Frondek. Brockway: Levi Miller 2.

Kick returns – Brookville: Cameron Yard 3-65, Brandon Brownlee 2-13. Brockway: Joe Caruso 1-16.

Punt returns – Brookville: Sebastian Kerr 1-0.

Punting – Brookville: Jordan Young 1-37. Brockway: Derek Buganza 2-68 (long 38).