By Rich Rhoades

KANE — It all came down to a two-point conversion try to settle a wild Class AA semifinal affair at Kane Friday night. In the end, it was the Wolves who escaped with a 35-34 overtime win over visiting Brookville.

After Kane scored first in overtime on Sean Jordan’s third touchdown pass of the game on an 8-yard connection with tight end Jeff Kocjancic and hit the point-after kick, Brookville scored easily on its first play with Cameron Yard’s 10-yard pass to Jonah Sampson.

Instead of having Yard kick his fifth point-after attempt of the game — he made the first four — Raiders head coach Chris Dworek elected to go for a game-winning two-point conversion. Yard rolled out to his right and threw to Zach Vroman in the end zone, but the pass skipped on the ground incomplete as Vroman made a sliding attempt to catch the ball.

Shaking off a five-turnover performance and a game where it didn’t punt but almost lost, Kane (7-3) moves on to next week’s District 9 Championship game against Karns City at a site and time to be announced.

Jordan completed 17 of 28 passes for 221 yards on three touchdowns, engineering a game-tying drive in the waning moments of regulation with a 13-yard pass to Andrew Pierson.

After the Raiders (6-5) went ahead 28-21 on Vroman’s 1-yard run with 1:55 left, the Wolves responded with a 9-play, 71-yard drive led by Jordan who completed five passes on the drive, overcame a third-and-15 scenario after being sacked and spiked the ball twice to stop the clock with the Wolves having just one timeout remaining.

Wolves running back Jonah Smith ran for 137 yards on 20 carries with two touchdowns. His 27-yard run put the Wolves up 13-0 at the end of the first quarter, capping Kane’s second scoring drive in its first two possessions of the game.

Smith’s second touchdown came on the second play of the fourth quarter on an 8-yard run. Kane appeared to be on its way to an easy win with a 21-7 lead, but the Raiders clawed back and turned two Wolves turnovers into touchdowns to tie the game.

The Raiders answered Smith’s touchdown with a score at the end of a six-play, 68-yard drive finished off by Yard’s 3-yard run. On the ensuing kickoff, Raiders senior Brodie Zacherl stole the ball away from Smith on the return and the Raiders took over at the Wolves’ 18. Five plays later, Vroman scored the second of his three touchdowns on a 5-yard run with 6:51 remaining.

The turnovers weren’t finished. On the second play after the following kickoff, Vroman recovered a Kocjancic fumble at the end of a 9-yard reception at the Kane 37. Sharing the load with Zacherl on eight straight running plays, Vroman scored on a 1-yard run with just 1:55 left on the clock.

That set up Kane’s game-tying drive and overtime that ended with Brookville’s failed two-pointer.

Kane opened the game with a 10-play, 88-yard drive with Sean Rolick’s 14-yard pass from Jordan finding the end zone. Rolick caught five balls for a team-high 71 yards while Kocjancic had six receptions for 46 yards.

The Wolves needed just two plays to score on Smith’s first TD run thanks to a Raiders bad snap on a punt that wound up giving Kane the ball at the Raiders’ 30.

Brookville’s first touchdown, one of three coming after a Kane turnover, was Vroman’s first TD run of 12 yards with 3:25 left in the second quarter. Jordan was hit by blitzing linebacker Nathan Bonfardine and fumbled the ball away at the Kane 24.

NOTES: The Wolves outgained the Raiders, 372-232. The Raiders rushed for 256 yards, led by Vroman’s 100 yards on 14 carries. Zacherl gained 77 yards on 20 attempts and Yard ran for 74 yards on 15 tries. … The overtime game was the first District 9 Class AA playoff game to need extra time since the Raiders’ overtime win at Karns City in 1998. The Raiders beat the undefeated Gremlins, 23-16. … It’s the seventh overtime game in district playoff history, the last ones coming in the 2010 playoffs when Port Allegany needed four overtimes to beat Elk County Catholic, 47-44, in the quarterfinals.

KANE 35, BROOKVILLE 34, OT

Score By Quarters

Brookville       0          7          0          21        6          -           34                   

Kane               13        0          0          15        7          -           35

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

K – Sean Rolick 14 pass from Sean Jordan (Sean Rolick kick), 4:48.

K – Jonah Smith 27 run (kick blocked), 2:18.

Second Quarter

B – Zach Vroman 12 run (Cameron Yard kick), 3:25.

Fourth Quarter

K – Jonah Smith 8 run (Sean Rolick run), 11:17.

B – Cameron Yard 3 run (Yard kick), 9:06.

B – Zach Vroman 5 run (Yard kick), 6:51.

B – Zach Vroman 1 run (Yard kick), 1:55.

K – Andrew Pierson 13 pass from Sean Jordan (Sean Rolick kick), :26.

Overtime

K – Jeff Kocjancic 8 pass from Sean Jordan (Sean Rolick kick)

B – Jonah Sampson 10 pass from Cameron Yard (pass failed)

TEAM STATISTICS

                                    B                     K        

First Downs                            15                    21

Rushes-Yards                          52-256             35-151

Passing: Comp-Att-Int            4-9-0                17-28-1

Passing Yards                         67                    221

Total Yards                             323                  372

Fumbles-Lost                          1-1                   4-4

Punts-Avg                               3-34.5              0-0

Penalties-Yards                       7-60                 3-28

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Brookville: Zach Vroman 14-100, Brodie Zacherl 20-77, Cameron Yard 15-74, Nathan Bonfardine 2-4, Jonah Sampson 1-1. Kane: Jonah Smith 20-137, Sean Rolick 5-32, John English 1-2, Jamie Lingenfelter 1-(-1), Sean Jordan 8-(-19).

PASSING — Brookville: Cameron Yard 4-for-9, 67 yards, 1 TD. Kane: Sean Jordan 17-for-28, 221 yards, 3 TDs, 1 Int.; Team 0-for-2.

RECEIVING — Brookville: Braiden Smith 1-29, Zach Vroman 1-21, Jonah Sampson 1-10, Cecil Grubbs 1-7. Kane: Sean Rolick 5-71, Jonah Smith 3-50, Jeff Kocjancic 6-46, Shane Rolick 2-41, Andrew Pierson 1-13.

INTERCEPTIONS: Brookville: Cameron Yard.

SACKS — Brookville: Jonah Sampson, Kiefer Gilhousen, Cameron Yard. Kane: Loren Kumher.

KICK RETURNS — Brookville: Brodie Zacherl 3-39, Jonah Sampson 1-10, Zach Vroman 1-15. Kane: Sean Rolick 2-46, Jonah Smith 3-24.

PUNTING — Brookville: Nathan Bonfardine 2-69 (long 35).