"They were playing seven guys in the box, and we couldn’t run the ball, so we threw it all night," Brockway head coach Frank Varischetti told the Tri-County Sunday out of DuBois. "That’s what we have to do if teams are going to play us with no safety. We had to throw to beat them, and we did."
Buganza went 33-of-45 in the game and threw six touchdowns and two interceptions while topping the previous state record of 511 yards set in 2003 by Downingtown East’s Pat Devlin.
Mike Vervoort caught four of the touchdown passes, one shy of the state record, while catching nine passes for 175 yards.
And despite the blowout score, the game was extremely tight until Brockway scored four touchdowns in a span of 4:14 sandwiched between halftime.
Jake Shaffer added 10 catches for 148 yards, Zach Freemer had six grabs for 154 yards and a touchdown and Chris Marshall, a DuBois Central Catholic product playing for Brockway in a co-op, had five catches for 91 yards and a touchdown for the Rovers.
Pittsburgh Central Catholic rebounds to upset Upper St. Clair
A week ago, Pittsburgh Central Catholic was stunned by Mt. Lebanon, but it didn’t take the Vikings long to reassert themselves as one of the favorites in the WPIAL Class AAAA, knocking off MaxPreps’ ninth-ranked team in Pennsylvania 31-7 Thursday night at Upper St. Clair.
Damion Jones-Moore had a big night for the Vikings, rushing for 208 yards and three touchdowns.
Woodland Hills upsets No. 4 Bethel Park
Bethel Park, the defending WPIAL Class AAAA champion and the fourth-ranked team in Pennsylvania by MaxPreps, was upset Friday night 21-17 by Woodland Hills.
Bethel Park (3-1) had a chance to win the game late, but Woodland Hills broke up a fourth-down pass on the contest’s final play. Don Timbers ran for 116 yards and one touchdown for Woodland Hills, and Lafayette Pitts scored twice, including on a 34-yard pass from John Yezovich with just under 2:30 left to play.
Shaler gets statement win
In just his second year at Shaler, head coach Neil Gordon, the former Penn Hills coach who was extremely successful before being let go, has Shaler playing at an extremely high level following a 21-12 win over Mt. Lebanon that moved the Titans to 4-0 on the season, including the win over a Blue Devil team that had knocked off Pittsburgh Central Catholic just a week before. Jess Della Valle ran for 128 yards and a pair of touchdowns to pace Shaler.
MaxPreps' top teams roll to wins
Despite the losses by No. 4 Bethel Park and No. 9 Upper St. Clair, it was mainly an easy week for the seven Western Pennsylvania teams in the MaxPreps.com Top 25.
No. 6 Beaver Falls rolled past Ellwood City 43-10, Wilmington destroyed Oil City 37-7, Gateway coasted pasted Penn-Trafford 51-14, Thomas Jefferson toppled Ringgold 41-7 and Hopewell snuck past New Castle 35-7.
Top performances
In addition to Buganza and company’s state-record showing, there were other outstanding performances around Western Pennsylvania last week:
* Cody Crosby (Eisenhower quarterback) – Crosby threw for a school-record 315 yards while completing 21-of-30 passes and tossing two touchdowns in Eisenhower’s 28-20 win over rival Youngsville.
* Sam Johnston (Thomas Jefferson quarterback) – Johnson had another solid performance, going 10-of-19 for 306 yards and two touchdowns in the 41-7 win over Ringgold. It was a bit of a mixed bag for the Jaguars signal-caller, as he was picked off three times.
* Dan Reed (Keystone quarterback) – Reed was 13-of-18 passing for 278 yards and three touchdowns, and added a rushing touchdown in the Panthers' 42-8 win over Union.
* Shayne Dotson (South Park running back) – Dotson ran for 265 yards and two touchdowns to lead South Park to a 20-18 win over Cornell. He scored on runs of 71 and 17 yards.
* Andrew Nortum (Johnsonburg quarterback) – Nortum had the best day of his young career, going 14-of-26 passing for 263 yards and four touchdowns in a 26-13 Johnsonburg win over Smethport.
* Pat Pascarella (Bradford running back) – Pascarella carried the ball 16 times for 242 yards and four touchdowns and also added two catches for 19 yards in Bradford’s 42-7 win over Warren.
* Christian Brumbaugh (South Fayette quarterback) – Brumbaugh was 13-of-27 for 203 yards and four touchdowns and outdueled Penn State recruit Paul Jones (17-of-28, 207 yards, 2 TDs) to lead South Fayette to a 35-20 win over Sto-Rox.
* Jim Giansante (Thomas Jefferson receiver) – Giansante caught seven passes for 174 yards and one touchdown in Thomas Jefferson's 41-7 win over Ringgold.
Just a thought, random or not
Let me say how strange it sounds to say the words "Brockway" and "state passing record" in the same sentence. For more than 20 years, the Rovers, under legendary head coach Ray Reckner, were a running football team using the Wing-T formation, and 594 yards was two seasons worth of passing for the Rovers.
But Varischetti, whose family already had a big week when it officially became minority owners of the Pittsburgh Steelers, installed the spread attack last season, and it has been PlayStation football for Brockway ever since.
