BROOKVILLE — Two costly turnovers, three trips into Kane territory without any points and a muffed punt did the Brookville Raiders football team in on Friday night as the visiting Wolves came away with a 20-14 victory.
A 14-play, 86-yard drive by Brookville ended for naught in the first part of the second quarter after the Raiders were stopped at the Wolves 1-yard line. Then turnovers on downs at the Kane 24 and 28, respectively, finished off the Raiders — the latter of which was a 4th-and-10 play with 1:33 to go that gave the win to the visitors.
The Wolves’ two takeaways were within a handful of seconds late in the second quarter as Eric Novosel picked off an Easton Belfiore pass and took it 53-yards to the house. Then on Brookville’s next drive, another interception, this time by Kyle Zook, allowed the Wolves to score with seven seconds left in the half.
Kane’s first score of the night also came after a bobbled punt attempt gave them prime field position to start on the Raider 27 — as that led to the team’s first score of the night.
Brookville outgained Kane 252-198 on the evening, won the first down battle 15-12 and also had just one penalty for 10 yards compared to a dozen for 80 by the Wolves as Belfiore’s continuously made Kane linemen pick up encroachment penalties. Yet at the end of the night, the Wolves walked off the field with the six-point win.
Brookville quarterback Easton Belfiore was 12-of-25 for 150 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He also led the team on the ground with 68 yards on 15 totes. Kolton Griffin had 10 carries for 41 yards — he had just eight on four carries in the first half — while also notching three receptions for 37 yards and a score. Wideout Blake Porter paced the Raiders with four receptions for 60 yards as Austin Colgan had the team’s other touchdown on the evening.
After Kane went three-and-out to start the game, Brookville did the same. But on the punt attempt, a Gannon McMaster bobble instead saw him tackled by a slew of Wolves before he could get a kick off, giving Kane the ball at the Raider 27. Five plays later, Kane Scharba punched it in from two yards out as Tysin Boschert’s PAT made it 7-0 Wolves with 8:14 left in the first quarter.
Brookville responded on the next drive just 2:09 later. After a key 32-yard pass play saw Belfiore find Tony Ceriani, the Raiders stalled out facing 4th-and-4 at the Kane 13. However, Belfiore then found Colgan streaking in the back left corner of the end zone for the score as McMaster’s PAT tied it up at 7-7 with 6:05 left in the first quarter.
Kane also had a sustained drive go empty — they made it to the Raider 13 and a Novosel pass to Zook fell incomplete on 4th-and-7. That led to Brookville’s lengthy 14-play, 86-yard march down the field. Facing 3rd-and-inches at the Kane 1, although the Raiders could’ve picked up a first down, Griffin was blown up at the line of scrimmage and got a two-yard loss. That led to a 4th-and-2 play from the Kane 3 as Belfiore saw immediate pressure from Levi Wilson as Belfiore’s pass to Trenton Colgan fell incomplete.
Brookville got the ball back with 51.6 seconds left in the first half, but the Wolves went up by seven just two plays later. That’s when Belfiore threw a pass in the middle of the field but Novosel jumped the route and then made Raiders miss and followed his blockers 53-yards to the house. Boschert’s PAT gave Kane a 14-7 advantage with 34.8 seconds left in the first half.
And on the very next Raider offensive play, Zook picked off a Belfiore pass as Kane got the ball back at the Raider 32. Three plays later with 1st-and-goal just inside the 10, Novosel saw a Raider rush as he stepped up into the pocket and found Preston Darr over the middle. With the Wolves out of timeouts, Darr made it count by finding paydirt with just seven seconds to go in the first half. However, Boschert kicked a line drive into the line, failing on the PAT as Kane took a 20-7 lead into halftime.
The Raiders made it a one-score game again with 42.4 seconds left in the third quarter. After getting down to the Kane 22 on an 18-yard catch by Porter and a 15-yard late hit penalty tacked onto the end of the catch, Belfiore found Griffin on a screen play and Griffin was able to accelerate up the middle for the 22-yard score. McMaster’s extra point got the Raiders within six, but that’s what ended up being the final score.
After both teams turned it over on downs to start the fourth quarter, Kane got a bit of momentum back as Novosel scrambled for a 32-yard gain facing 3rd-and-23. That led to the Wolves getting into the red zone before they stalled out and attempted a 38-yard field goal by Boschert, which fell short with 5:29 left to play.
With the game on the line and Brookville getting the ball back at its own 20, Griffin and Belfiore were able to get a few first downs as they reached the Kane 27. But on 2nd-and-9, Griffin was tackled for a 1-yard loss as Belfiore’s pass attempt to Austin Colgan was defended well by Zook. That set up the 4th-and-10 play but Belfiore’s pass was batted down at the line of scrimmage as the Wolves then went into victory formation to celebrate the team’s second win of the year.
Novosel led Kane with 78 yards rushing and 45 yards passing while Scharba had 51 yards on 16 carries.
Brookville (1-6) looks to get back on track next week as they travel to Moniteau.
