Brookville bounces Heritage to finish 10-0

Despite a scare from Heritage on Friday, Brookville claimed its first Seminole District title since 1996 with a 21-7 win over the Pioneers.

Heritage scored the game’s first points, but the Bees answered with 21 points to give coach Jeff Woody his first district crown since he was a senior wide receiver for Brookville.

Brookville’s win over the Pioneers (3-5, 2-3 Seminole) also earned the Bees their first undefeated regular season in 37 years as they improved to 10-0 overall and 6-0 in the district. The Bees also secured the top seed and a first-round bye in the Region III, Division 3, playoffs.

“Give credit to Heritage, they’ve got a great coaching staff and good players,” Woody said. “We sputtered on offense a little bit and came out flat.”

Heritage took the opening kickoff and went 87 yards on eight plays to take a 7-0 lead on Montez Hamlett’s 7-yard touchdown run and Stefan Phelps’ extra point. The two key plays in the drive were a 12-yard pass to James Carter from James Womack on third-and-11 at the Pioneers 24. The other big play was a 52-yard bomb to Lawrence Blake from Womack. Blake was hauled down at the 10 and Heritage scored two plays later.

Brookville then took the ensuing kickoff and marched 59 yards in seven plays. The Bees tied the game on Ben Simmons’ 15-yard run and Dylan Tordoff’s extra point. Brookville also converted a critical third down to keep the drive going when Logan Thomas completed a 22-yard pass to Zack McCray on third-and-11.

For the rest of the first half both teams struggled to sustain a drive and traded punts. The exceptions were a missed 44-yard field goal by Tordoff, which hit the crossbar and bounced back onto the field and three passes thrown into the end zone by Womack from the Bees’ 35 in the final 30 seconds.

Hamlett set up those throws with a 45-yard run and twice the Pioneers got a receiver open, but just couldn’t make a connection. The teams went into halftime at 7-7.

The Bees wasted little time in the third quarter to get on top. Following the kickoff, Brookville used just six plays to cover 58 yards. This time it was Thomas who scored on a 5-yard run around the right end. Tordoff made it 14-7 with the extra point.

After the teams traded punts, the turnover bug stung the Pioneers, who fumbled a handoff and Brookville safety Alec Thompson recovered the loose ball at Heritage’s 29.

The Bees’ scored two plays later on perfectly thrown 14-yard touch pass into the corner of the end zone from Thomas to his younger cousin, McCray. Tordoff added the kick and Brookville led 21-7 with 2:54 left in the third quarter.

“I had to get one last one from Logan in the last regular-season game (we are going to play together),” McCray said. “That one was for him and it was a great play all around.”

The Pioneers continued to struggle with mistake after mistake. Heritage turned the ball over three more times, once on downs and twice inside Brookville’s 20 in the final 15 minutes.

“We had chances, it’s just been the same thing all year — missed blocks, turnovers and fumbles,” Pioneers coach Chris Jones said. “The second half just sums up our whole season and why we are where we’re at.”

Heritage will wrap up its season next week by hosting Amherst. The Bees have two weeks off before hosting a Region III Division 4 semifinal.

“Luckily were able to put our foot on the gas pedal and make some things happen in the third quarter,” Woody said. “Hard work pays off. We started off in July and our goal was to take it one game at time. The kids and the coaching staff did a great job of staying focused.

“It’s one game at time now. You can’t play the second game unless you win the first one and each week the opponents are going to get a little better.”

Said Thomas: “I’m excited about (the playoffs), but nervous at the same time because you’re one game from stepping out early and from and getting where you want to be. But, I think if we go out here and work hard we will be fine.”