BROOKVILLE — It was Week 0 in Pennsylvania football, but what happened on the field between Bradford and Brookville will now be the game to beat for the remainder of the 2018 season.
When the final buzzer sounded after nearly three and a half hours, the Raiders took home a 69-60 victory that left fans, coaches and those who suited up in the game awestruck.
The slugfest saw several school records shattered, a whopping 1,368 yards of offense between the two sides and 29 plays go for at least 20 years.
It certainly left both coaches feeling awfully good about things on the offensive side of the ball, but re-assessing things on defense after the game.
“We knew coming in that we were going to have to score everytime we touched the ball,” Bradford head coach Jeff Puglio said. “I liked the way our offense played. Defensively, it was tackling. We knew where we were supposed to be on the field but it all came down to tackling.”
It didn’t take long for the fireworks to begin on Friday, with Bradford’s Jaron Ambrose taking the game’s first play from scrimmage 74 yards to set up an Owls touchdown.
Exactly a minute later, Brookville answered with a score of its own. And although Bradford built up a 20-6 lead at one point in the first quarter, it didn’t even last a full minute. The blows were traded and a 40-38 Brookville lead sat on the scoreboard after just 12 minutes of play.
“I don’t think we punted, did we?” Brookville head coach Scott Park joked after the game. “We decided in the first quarter that the only way we were going to win was to go for every fourth down and have four chances to get 10 yards. It took that to win. I don’t even know where to start.”
Park can certainly start with the play of his sophomore quarterback, Jack Krug. Krug, who threw for 41 touchdowns last year, set a school record with eight TD passes on Friday. He also broke a 50-year Brookville record with 555 passing yards. Oh, and he also ran for a touchdown to put the game away late in the fourth quarter.
“He’s very talented, and he does everything we ask of him,” Park said. “He studies the game and studies the film. He’s the best quarterback I’ve ever worked with and I’ve worked with some pretty good ones. He is by far the best.”
His favorite target of the night, Cade Park, also almost certainly set the mark to be beaten in District 9 this year. Park hauled in 15 passes for 290 yards and five touchdowns.
It wasn’t just that Krug was hitting Park 50 yards down the field, either. Rather, it was Park’s shifty running style that gave Bradford’s defense fits all evening. On nine of Park’s 15 receptions, he ran for at least 25 yards after the catch.
The performance left even his head coach at a loss for words after the game.
“He’s so shifty, I don’t know how he gets out of that stuff,” Park said. “You think you have him pinned and then I can’t believe it. I watch it on the film and I can’t believe what happened.”
Even more remarkable to Brookville’s record-shattering passing night is that the Raiders were missing their top wideout. Bryan Dworek, who caught 21 touchdown passes last year, missed the game with a leg injury.
“We had adversity coming into the game with injuries and sickness. Then we had the adversity of being down 15. Have to give the kids credit because they battled, believed in the system and kept plugging away.”
The Raiders needed every bit of magic from Krug and Park as the game wore on. As good as the Brookville passing offense was, Bradford’s running attack was equal to the task.
The numbers are eye-popping: 512 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground just between the trio of Jaron Ambrose, Donny Pattison and Derek Sunafrank. After the graduation of the school’s top running back John Eakin, a group effort was just what their head coach was hoping for.
“Everybody wanted to talk about the loss of John coming in,” Puglio said. “We knew we couldn’t replace him with just one guy and it has to be multiple people. With the Wing-T we are able to spread the ball around and I like the attack. Even guys coming off the bench like Patrick Caskey had a nice game tonight. It’s not just three-deep, there are six guys we can give the ball to.”
As much as the Owls relied on the run game in their season opener, the game was ultimately decided through the air. With Bradford trailing by nine with less than five minutes to go, quarterback Nate Blauser threw an interception that iced the game for the Raiders.
Still, Blauser did enough in his first game at quarterback to complement the run game. The senior went 5-for-9 with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
“He played a tough game,” Puglio said. “He’s battling a finger (injury) and that’s messing with his center exchanges. I thought he battled back tonight. Got a couple carries and I was happy with the way he played.”
The Raiders were finally able to close out the Owls with a 15-0 fourth quarter that ironically saw both scores come on the ground.
In Park’s mind, the game came down to which team had just a little bit more gas left in the tank.
“We knew Bradford was tough, and we were worried about them,” Park said. “But they got tired. You could see they were physically starting to get tired and cramp. Our kids fed off that and it was like sharks in the water and our guys said, ‘Ok, now we got them.’
And while Puglio admits that scoring 60 and having to head home with a loss is a very tough pill to swallow, he preferred to look at the big picture after the game and that increased competition with be beneficial for his team down the road.
“Brookville earned it tonight and were the better team,” he said. “This one is over, you move on and St. Marys comes next.”
“This is Week 1, or Week 0, but this is what we wanted,” Puglio added. “This is why this league is better for everyone involved. Those AML North-South games weren’t good for us or the North. This is where we wanna be. I know we lost this one, but this is better for the league as a whole and for the Bradford football program as a whole.”
BY QUARTERS
Bradford 20 18 22 0—60
Brookville 13 27 14 15—69
TEAM STATISTICS
First Downs: Brook 19, Brad 11; Rushes/Yards Rushing: Brad: 41-522, Brook: 27-111; Yards Passing: Brook: 555, Brad 70; Comp-Att-Int: Brook 30-50-555-8, Brad: 5-8-70-2-2; Penalties: Brad: 11-95, Brook: 8-60; Fumbles-Lost: Bradford 2-1, Brookville 1-0; Total Yards: Brook 768, Brad 600; Offensive Plays: Brook: 71, Brad: 54
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Passing: Brook: Jack Krug 30-50-555-8-0; Brad: Nate Blauser 5-9-70-2-2
Rushing: Bradford: Donny Pattison 14-204-2, Derek Sunafrank 15-179-1,Jaron Ambrose 7-129-2, Nate Blauser 2-22, Patrick Caskey 1-18; Brookville: Tucker Wolfe 8-41, Brandon Eppley 10-37, Krug 14-135-1
Receiving: Brookville: Cade Park 15-290-5,Griffen Wolfe 5-83-1, Brandon Eppley 2-23, Addison Singleton 2-35, Ian Thrush 4-108-1, Braden MacBeth 2-16; Brad: Pattison 2-39-1, Ambrose 1-6, Caleb Nuzzo 1-25-1, Matthew Stafford 1-8.
Scoring summary
First quarter
Brad: Donny Pattison, 1-yard run (Missed PAT), 1:24
Brook: Griffen Wolfe, 10-yard pass from Jack Krug (PAT blocked), 2:24
Brad: Jaron Ambrose, 14-yard run (Pattison run), 3:12
Brad: Pattison, 28-yard pass from Nate Blauser (2-pt conversion failed), 6:30
Brook: Cade Park, 11-yard pass from Krug (Donovan Hoffman PAT), 9:16
Second quarter
Brad: Derek Sunafrank, 11-yard run (Caleb Nuzzo missed PAT), 0:06
Brook: Brandon Eppley, 5-yard pass from Krug (Hoffman PAT), 3:41
Brad: Ambrose, 14-yard run (Nuzzo missed PAT), 6:04
Brook: Ian Thrush, 60-yard pass from Krug (PAT blocked), 6:25
Brook: Park, 16-yard pass from Krug (Hoffman PAT), 9:47
Brad: Pattison, 60-yard run (2-pt conversion failed), 11:33
Third quarter
Brook: Park, 55-yard pass from Krug (Hoffman PAT), 1:00
Brad: Sunafrank, 53-yard run (Ambrose run), 4:55
Brad: Caleb Nuzzo, 25-yard pass from Blauser (Sunafrank run), 7:37
Brook: Park, 65-yard pass from Krug (Hoffman PAT), 10:19
Brad: Pattison, 48-yard run (2-point conversion failed), 11:48
Brook: Park 4 pass from Krug; Hoffman kick
Fourth quarter
Brook: Krug, 36-yard run (Hoffman PAT), 0:10
Brook: Eppley, 10-yard run (Wolfe run), 4:44
