BROOKVILLE — Things did not go as the Brookville Raiders had hoped in their football opener against Keystone on Friday, as the visiting Panthers returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, scored 35 first-quarter points, and went on to secure a 55-6 victory.
Keystone junior quarterback Dom Corcetti had himself quite a night to power Panthers’ offense, rushing for 276 yards and four touchdowns on just 10 carries and completing five passes for 63 yards and a touchdown.
Eli Nellis caught three of those five passes for 41 yards and rushed for 61 yards, in addition to the 83-yard kickoff return to open the season’s scoring, and Jacob Henry rushed five times for 48 yards and a pair of touchdowns and added an interception. Landyn Reed also caught a touchdown.
Once Brookville got rolling in the second quarter, its offense was pass-heavy, led by quarterback Trent Colgan, who completed 14 of 29 passes for 178 yards and a touchdown while throwing one interception.
Sam Krug was his top target, catching six passes for 106 yards, and Hayden Freeman caught three for 48 yards and his team’s only score, in addition to snagging an interception for the Raiders’ defense.
The Panthers led 42-0 before Freeman’s 5-yard TD pass from Colgan came at the 7:19 mark of the second quarter. Keystone led 48-6 at halftime with the lone points of the second half that began with the PIAA Mercy Rule’s running clock came on Jacob Henry’s 10-yard run with 32 seconds left in the third quarter.
The Panthers won the toss and elected to receive, and in turn went on to open their season in style when Nellis returned one 83 yards down the left sideline for a quick six points. Bryce Mount added the first of his seven point-after kicks, and Keystone led 7-0 just 14 seconds into the game.
Brookville went three-and-out on its first possession, and after taking over at its own 33, Keystone used five plays to go 67 yards and score again when Henry capped the drive with a 15-yard TD run off the left tackle.
Brookville moved the chains for the first time thanks to a Keystone personal foul, but then turned it over on downs on a botched punt snap that resulted in a 28-yard loss, giving Keystone the ball at the Raiders’ 11-yard line.
Two short runs later, they needed just 3 more yards, and they got it on a roll out pass from Corcetti to Reed, making it 21-0 with 5:29 to play in the first quarter.
The ensuing Raiders drive was stifled by a Keystone sack, resulting in another three-and-out, and two contrasting runs — a big 29-yarder by Nellis and a short 1-yard keeper by Corcetti — saw Keystone punch in another and make it 28-0 with still three minutes left on the quarter clock.
Brookville turned it over on downs again after gaining one first down, and Corcetti pushed the lead to 35 points on the first play of the ensuing drive, going 43 yards up the middle — dodging and avoiding tacklers all the way — to make it 35-0.
Brookville marched down the field on the following drive, which turned the game into the second quarter, moving into the red zone on Colgan passes to Krug, Dante Morey and Freeman, before a reception to Blake Porter resulted in a fumble and a recovery by Keystone’s Landon Mohney at the Brookville 13.
Three plays later, Corcetti added yet another touchdown, this time faking a handoff and rumbling for 56 yards untouched off the left side to make it 42-0 with 8:32 left in the half.
Brookville got its first score on the drive that followed, though it started with two incompletions. The third-down play was a quick hitter from Colgan to Krug, and he followed a few blockers to the seam down the right sideline, then sprinted 64 yards before being forced out at the Keystone 7.
On the very next play, Colgan rolled left and found Freeman in the front corner of the endzone to make it 42-6, where it remained after a missed point.
Keystone managed to tack on one last score before the half, putting together a six-play, 57-yard drive that was highlighted by a pair of big runs by Nellis and Henry and capped off by Corcetti’s 25-yard keeper off the right edge.
The PAT was no-good, and the game went to the half with the Panthers ahead 48-6.
With the running-clock mercy rule in effect for the duration of the second half, each team had just two drives, with Keystone notching the only points of the half late in the third quarter.
The third opened with Brookville receiving, and the Raiders went from their own 32 deep into Keystone territory thanks to a 12-play drive. It was highlighted by a 25-yard, diving reception by Freeman, but ended on a sack by Keystone’s Brady Dunlap to turn it over on downs at the Keystone 24.
On the second play of the drive, Corcetti ran for 64 yards to close the book on his 276-yard rushing night, and four plays later, Henry ran off the left edge for 10 yards and his second touchdown of the night. Mount trotted out and tacked on one last PAT to make it 55-6 with 32 seconds left in the third quarter.
Brookville drove down into the red zone again on the following drive, thanks to a 15-yard keeper by Colgan, a 13-yard rush by Jordan Sarvey and a 9-yard reception by Gabe Hannah, but the Panthers defense made a stand with a stop on a fourth-and-1 play, turning it over on downs, and from there, they ran out the clock with rushes by Landon Mohney and Ethan Corcetti to seal their 55-6 victory.
The win by the Panthers was the first since a 21-0 win at home against the Raiders back in 2015. They played for the first time since then in 2023 when the Raiders won 42-20 at home. Brookville still leads the all-time series, 32-11.