Players, fans still reeling, amazed at Meadville's 107-90 high school football win over DuBois

Video: Collin Read's highlights vs. Clearfield High
See the DuBois High receiver in action last season.

As both offenses raced up and down the field on a perfect 65-degree night for football in northwestern Pennsylvania — about 50 miles west of Penn State University — DuBois (Pa.) Athletic Director Mike Erickson turned to a trainer and said: "You might need to score 100 points to win."

"I was half joking," Erickson said Saturday morning.

He was completely correct.

On the day after host DuBois could "only" muster 90 and its sophomore quarterback Matt Miller — in his first varsity start — threw for a national-record 787 yards and 10 touchdowns, everyone involved in the 107-90 victory for Meadville (Pa.) was left a little dazed, amazed and confused.

It was the highest-scoring football game since 1928, it took 3½ hours to complete, and according to Meadville Tribune Sports Editor Pete Chiodo, it featured 28 touchdowns and 1,908 total yards between the two teams and 1,004 rushing yards from Meadville, both national records. 

See full game story

That's more than a mile of offense by the two schools that are 114 miles apart.

"The stat sheet and scoring summary looked like a grocery receipt," quipped Chiodo.

While Miller was chucking it all over the field to guys like Colin Read (nine catches, 355 yards, three touchdowns), Meadville went old-school, utilizing a Wing-T attack and super-fleet "Touchdown Journey Brown," who rushed 30 times for 722 yards and 10 scores, which obliterated the state record by 222 yards and ranks No. 2 on the National Federation of State High School Associations national record list.

"Maybe a football purist hated it," said Erickson, noting that DuBois' 5,000-seat stadium was about half-full. "But I know watching the game from the field, all of us were thinking, ‘Is this real? Can this be happening?' It was unbelievable."

Said Chiodo: "Surreal. Absolutely surreal."

Wildest dreams

Miller, a terrific 6-foot-2, 190-pound all-around athlete, missed all of last season due to a left ACL tear. Also a basketball and baseball standout — he missed those seasons too — he tweaked the knee during the summer and coach Frank Varischetti held him out of his team's opener, a 51-41 win over Mifflin County.

Miller said he was jittery heading into his prep debut, but "settled in" after throwing a 47-yard touchdown strike to Braden Paulinellie to start the game. Never in his wildest dream did he expect to go on and break the NFHS mark of 764 held by David Koral of Pacific Palisades (Calif.) set in 2000.

When he got home, Miller had more than 200 text or phone messages and he was sent more than 300 Twitter posts about him. On Saturday he immediately thanked his offensive linemen and receivers.

"It was truly remarkable," Miller said. "Someone told me after the game I'd broke the state record. Five minutes later after that someone told me I'd broke the national record. I had chills go down my spine thinking about it. I still do.

"It's all pretty shocking that we scored 90 and still lost. It was one crazy game."

Varischetti has been bombarded with media requests since Friday's game. He's tried to take a step back and appreciate the amazing up-and-down battle, which featured 1,004  yards by Meadville (all on the ground) and 904 from his own squad.

Those totals rank first and sixth nationally on the NFHS all-time list, respectively. Meadville broke the national total yards mark of 946 set by Centennial (Corona, Calif.) set in 2013, and its rushing mark shattered the previous mark of 893 by Centerville (Texas) in 2003.

The combined 197 points is the most since Sherman (Texas) beat McKinney 199-0 in 1928.

"There's not much to enjoy when you give up 107 points," Varischetti said. "I would have enjoyed it a lot more if we scored 108.

"No, listen, I was very happy the way we kept battling back offensively. The pass protection was good. And Matt is a very talented kid who obviously played very well."

But they simply couldn't slow down Brown, who won the PIAA 100-meter title last spring in 11.36 seconds. Not blazing, "but much faster than anyone we have," Erickson said. "He was phenomenal."

The 5-11, 180-pound junior rushed for 1,651 yards and 22 touchdowns as a sophomore and had 12 carries for 154 yards and two scores in his team's 28-7 opening win over Fairview last week. That game was stopped short by lightning.

Friday's game was elongated by offense.

"I'm tired," Brown told Chiodo after the game. "I'm real tired. But it doesn't matter. I came to play for the team, not myself."

Money's worth

He had plenty of running help. Antonio Ferraro (11 carries, 160 yards, three touchdowns) and Caleb Bish (15-91-2) would have been headliners most nights.

But when your teammate goes for very respectable season numbers on a single night like Brown did, the spotlight naturally turns.

"Couldn't happen to a better kid," Chiodo said of Brown. "Always quick to praise others. Super humble."

Miller echoed those sentiments. He shook hands with Brown after the game and on Saturday, the two were interviewed together on a Pittsburgh radio station.

"I definitely have a lot of respect for him," Miller said of Brown. "He seems like a real good kid. He's a ball player, that's for sure."

There were plenty, Meadville coach Ray Collins told Chiodo. Collins took particular satisfaction in the record-setting contest. He played at DuBois.

"I'll tell you what," he said. "The fans that paid their $5 to come see this game certainly go their money's worth. What you had was two very good offenses teeing up on each other. But neither team brought their defense."

Part of history

Big interceptions by Meadville's Darius Edwards and Tanner Frye proved to be the difference.

"Kind of crazy to think with all that offense a couple of defensive plays were the key," Erickson said. "Man, that was one heck of a game."

The DuBois athletic director said there was some relief that the game finally ended. Especially among the referees.

"They were spent," he said. "They were the only ones never to leave the field. We got them (candy) bars at halftime and tried to keep them hydrated. Luckily it was a relatively young crew."

Both teams met at midfield afterward and spent a lot of time shaking hands. Little did they know they were part of one of the country's greatest games.

"You could see a lot of respect between the teams and coaches," Erickson said.

Said Miller: "There was no trash talk at any time. Both teams just played."

Chiodo noted that many of the players, especially on the Meadville side, cramped up throughout the game.

"But they'd get back out there and help score another touchdown," Chiodo said. "It was sort of the true definition of leaving it all on the field."

Asked what he could possibly do for an encore, Miller said, "Breaking records is great," he said. "But really all I'm focused on is getting us some wins."

* Note: some game statistics have been updated since both teams checked game film.