Brookville drills Richlands in Division 3 semifinals

Richlands knew it would have its hands full in trying to knock off undefeated Brookville in the Group AA, Division 3, semifinals at Stinger Stadium on Saturday and couldn’t afford a bad start.

But that’s exactly what happened as a muffed punt and an interception set up the Bees’ deep inside Blue Tornado territory twice helping Brookville to three first-quarter touchdowns and a resounding 47-0 rout.

The win puts the Bees (13-0)  in next week’s state championship game.

“The kids have been coachable all year and the coaching staff had a great game plan,” Brookville coach Jeff Woody said. “I’m sure our kids will be ready to play football (next week). (Our kids) have got their forks and they are hungry. We are going to work and try to bring it home.”

The Bees will face James Monroe, which defeated Monticello 44-41, at noon next Saturday in what will be a Seminole District doubleheader at Williams Stadium. Amherst took down Pulaski 13-7 in the Group AA Division 4 state semifinals Saturday and the Lancers will play Broad Run at 4:15 p.m.

“We are just very excited to be there,” Brookville’s Logan Thomas said. “We made our mind up after last year that we had the team to do it. We just had to come out and work hard. And, we did.”

The Bees lost to Richlands 24-14 in last year’s state semifinals.

“We knew what we had to do and 47-0 says it all,” Thomas said. 

The teams traded three-and-outs to start the game, but on Brookville’s punt, Richlands’ returner Bradley Strong called for a fair catch inside his own ten, but muff it. The Bees’ Jarrett Bateman recovered the ball at Richlands’ five.

Thomas scored on the next play with a run up the middle and Dylan Tordoff added the extra point as the Bees took a 7-0 lead with 9:26 left in the first quarter.

Brookville forced another three-and-out from the Blue Tornado and then needed just seven plays to cover 73 yards and take a 13-0 lead with 4:12 left in the first on Lorenzo Smith’s 36-yard touchdown reception from Thomas. The kick failed.

The Blue Tornado finally made something positive happen on the ensuing possession. Richlands picked up a first down with a 9-yard completion, only to throw an interception two plays later.

Blue Tornado quarterback Joel Elswick felt the pressure of blitzing linebacker Ben Simmons and threw the ball into a crowd where Bees’ defensive end Zack McCray picked off the pass and returned it to the Richlands’ 1.

Stacey Houston did the honors for Brookville on the next play. Tordoff added the extra point and the Bees took a commanding 20-0 lead with 1:39 left to play in the first.

“We self-destructed early in the football game and you can’t do that against a great football team,” Blue Tornado coach Greg Mance said. “The better football team won today. We knew we had to get off to a good start and hope to hang in there, but we got ourselves in the hole. They whipped us in all stages of the game.”

Said Woody: “I really liked those opportunities that were given to us. It makes it easy on the offense when they don’t have to drive the full 80. This game was about us being able to take advantage of some turnovers early on, get some points on the board and gain the momentum, which made it difficult for Richlands.”

Brookville’s defense dominated Richlands in the first. The Bees held the Blue Tornado to just one first down and Richlands gained just 18 yards from the line of scrimmage. Elswick completed just two of his 12 pass attempts.

Bateman also recovered a second muffed punt and recovered a fumble on a quarterback-center exchange.

“The fumbles just kind of dropped into my hands,” defensive tackle Bateman said. “I love our defense. Everybody doubts our defense, but I love our defense. This week we knew we had to get pressure on the quarterback and I think we did that.

“It’s a dream come true. We got the team working hard in the weight room so we would be ready to go on July 28. Hard work pays off.”

Brookville added two more scores in the second and third quarters. Thomas completed eight of his 11 attempted passes for 181 yards and three scores. Houston carried the ball 20 times for 101 yards and two touchdowns. Smith, Alec Thompson and Chad Mason caught touchdown passes for the Bees.

Brookville had 359 yards of total offense to the Blue Tornado’s 107. Richlands didn’t cross into Bees’ territory until its second possession of the second half with Brookville already up 47-0.

“When I was looking at the scoreboard at the end of the first quarter I knew we had a good chance of winning, but I knew that we couldn’t take our foot off the pedal,” Thomas said. “I’m just so proud of this team. But, we aren’t done yet.”