Mirror photograph by Patrick Waksmunski
PC’s Grant Gides is slowed by Brockway’s Kolton Kahle (left) and Ben Bash.
BROCKWAY — Coming into Friday, Penn Cambria senior wideout Grant Gides had 21 catches for 273 yards for the season.
There’s no higher time just like the state playoffs than to come back near matching the yardage in a single sport.
Gides had a monster efficiency, going for 193 receiving yards on six catches with a landing to assist lead the Panthers to a 27-0 win over Brockway within the first spherical of the PIAA Class 3A playoffs.
“You come into a game and you always hope for something like that to happen,” Gides mentioned. “I thought with how we came out, we had energy early. I thought something special was going to happen tonight.”
Penn Cambria quarterback Brady Jones additionally turned in a season-high with 298 passing yards, and threw for all 4 touchdowns in serving to the Panthers earn one other journey to the state quarterfinals.
Mirror photograph by Patrick Waksmunski
Penn Cambria’s Blake Lilly is wrapped up by Brockway’s Xavier Schwentner.
“You see open guys and you give them a chance,” Jones mentioned. “Grant Gides, Blake Nadolsky, Ayden Himmer — all these guys had receptions. You throw the ball up and they make plays.”
“We don’t care who it is, and they’ll say the same thing, I’m sure,” Penn Cambria coach Jason Grassi mentioned. “They get their number called, and they’re going to step up and make a play.”
And similar to Penn Cambria has performed all season, the protection put collectively one other stellar efficiency that included 5 sacks on Brockway quarterback Aiden Patton. The Panthers additionally obtained an interception from Noah Jones within the second half.
“At all three levels, we’re playing really good football defensively,” Grassi mentioned. “We’re playing better defense than we did in the regular season.”
Play of the sport: On the sport’s opening drive, the Rovers traveled 54 yards all the way down to the Penn Cambria 20 in 4 performs. The Panther protection stood its floor from there and sacked Patton for the primary time of the evening on third down, and Brockway’s drive stalled. Had the Rovers accomplished the drive for a rating, they might have had all of the momentum. Instead, lots of wind was taken out of their sails by the Penn Cambria protection.
Mirror photograph by Patrick Waksmunski
Five Penn Cambria defenders nook Brockway’s Collin Weir.
Player of the sport: Gides’ 193 yards on six catches have been greater than half of Penn Cambria’s complete offense for the evening.
Unsung heroes: Penn Cambria’s defensive front-7 swarmed the Brockway backfield all evening, holding the Rovers to only 6 speeding yards. They additionally obtained 5 sacks for the evening.
Most important statistic: Brockway had two journeys to the pink zone, and one other one which obtained to the Penn Cambria 22, however didn’t capitalize on any of its probabilities to attain.
Grassi: “I’m proud of our team here. It wasn’t pretty tonight, but we found a way to get it done. We shut out a team in the state playoffs. We’re playing some pretty good defense.”
Brockway coach Jake Heigel: “When you play this late, and you’re playing against teams like Penn Cambria and the best in the state, you have to plug balls in the end zone. We just didn’t tonight.”
Jones: “The mindset was to do what we’ve been doing all year long — establish the run, put the ball in our playmakers’ hands and let them do the work.”
Notable: The Panthers are a group that may usually get it performed on the bottom with 3,000 speeding yards for the season, however have been held to 76 speeding yards for the evening. Corbin Vinglish led the best way with 21 carries for 98 yards. … Vinglish did discover his approach into the tip zone on a 25-yard move from Jones. … Brockway’s Matthew Winnings had an interception within the first quarter. … Penn Cambria main receiver Blake Lilly was held to only two catches for 5 yards, however made certainly one of them rely on a 7-yard TD catch.
Records: Penn Cambria (11-2); Brockway (7-5)
Next week: The Panthers will play District 10 champion Sharon within the PIAA Class 3A quarterfinals. Sharon defeated Hickory, 20-17, for the district title Friday evening. A day, time and placement for the sport might be decided by PIAA later this weekend.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Penn Cambria 7 6 7 7 — 27
Brockway 0 0 0 0 — 0
First Quarter
PC–Gides 45 move from B. Jones, (B. Jones kick), 5:39
Second Quarter
PC–Vinglish 25 move from B. Jones, (kick failed), 4:11
Third Quarter
PC–Nadolsky 51 move from B. Jones, (B. Jones kick), 11:01
Fourth Quarter
PC–Lilly 7 move from B. Jones, (B. Jones kick), 11:11
TEAM STATISTICS PC B
First downs 18 11
Total yards 374 161
Rushes-yards 37-76 22-6
Yards passing 298 155
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 12-21-1 16-36-1
Punts-avg. 2-41 6-34.2
Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0
Penalties-yards 6-68 7-62
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING–Penn Cambria, Vinglish 21-98, Latterner 3-5, Lilly 2-(-3), TEAM 3-(-3), B. Jones 8-(-21). Brockway, Weir 8-21, Patton 14-(-15).
PASSING–Penn Cambria, B. Jones 12-21-1-298. Brockway, Patton 16-36-1-155.
RECEIVING–Penn Cambria, Gides 6-193, Nadolsky 2-65, Vinglish 1-25, Hummer 1-10, Lilly 2-5. Brockway, Weir 4-50, Kahle 3-42, Daugherty 4-32, Himes 3-28, Kennedy 2-3.