Brockway Wins Back to Back D-9 Crowns, Defeats St. Marys in a Thriller

Tagged under: District 9, Gameday Hub, News, pfn, Playoffs

Phil Myers | November 1, 2025

The Brockway Rovers captured their second consecutive District Nine Class 3A crown on a sunny, but chilly Saturday afternoon at Mansell Stadium in DuBois by defeating St. Marys 31-26 in a hard fought contest.  The Rovers got a couple of big plays, one on offense and one on defense, and then held on to fend off a surging St. Marys Flying Dutch effort.

“Our kids wanted this so bad for 12 months,” said Brockway’s head coach Jake Heigel, “all the time and effort our guys put into it.  All the credit goes to them.  There were some situations today where had it not been for the games we were in during the regular season, that game could have gone the other way.  Our guys found a way to win.  I’m very proud of them, of the effort, very proud of the coaching staff and the amount of preparation they put in this week.”

The game did not start out very well for Brockway as they fumbled the opening kickoff and the Flying Dutchmen recovered at the Rover 25.  From there it took six straight running plays for St. Marys to score.  Andrew Field did the honor by powering in from eight yards out.  The PAT was missed and early on, St. Marys led 6-0.

Andrew Field, St. Marys with cast on right arm finds daylight. PHOTO BY SHANE LUX.

Brockway did not mess around and answered right away by putting together a ten play 70 yard drive that ended when Carter Himes ran the ball in from the three.  Caleb Daugherty’s kick was good, putting Brockway in front 7-6.  It stayed that way until quarter number two.

Early in the second quarter, the Rovers had an Aiden Patton to Kyle Kennedy 48-yard touchdown pass called back due to Patton scrambling just past the line of scrimmage when he released the ball.  That is an illegal forward pass, a 5-yard penalty, and loss of down.

Exactly half way through the second, the Dutchmen regained the lead when facing a 4th and one at the Brockway 36, Field took the handoff from Brody Wehler on a quick hitter up the middle and found daylight as he broke past the line of scrimmage and sailed easily into the end zone.  The point after once again failed but St. Marys had the lead 12-7.

The Rovers answered once again by embarking on an 11 play, 65 yard drive that took over five minutes off the clock.  This time it was Matt Winnings who scored on a short run.  Brockway went for two points and converted when Patton threw a pass into the end zone to Kennedy.  With 50 seconds remaining in the half, Brockway took the lead back at 15-12.

But what do they say, if there’s time on the clock, there’s a chance to score.  That is precisely what Coach Chris Dworek’s team did as they began their possession at their own thirty.  A run for no gain was sandwiched around two Wehler to Frankie Smith passes that gained 29 yards to the Rover 41.  An incomplete pass was followed by a Wehler to Talon Thomas pass for 9 yards.  Then as time was winding down, Wehler laid a nice pass into the open arms of Smith to complete the 32-yard touchdown.  Field ran in the two point conversion and with two seconds left, St. Marys headed to the locker room with a 20-15 lead.  And they were to receive the second half kick.

On the third play of the second half Brockway struck like lightning out of nowhere.  Andrew Field plowed into the middle of the line on a 3rd and four situation and out of the pile came Brockway’s Matt Winnings with the ball.  He saw daylight and turned the after burners on and took the ‘fumble’ 37 yards to pay dirt.  The two pointer was no good, but the Rovers were up now for good 21-20.

Two of Brockway’s heroes on the day were QB Aiden Patton #10 and RB/ML Matt Winnings #8.

Coach Heigel commented this way, “Had Matt Winnings, who at 150 pounds playing middle linebacker against a team that is running Andrew Field (210 pounds) down after down at you, for him to rip the ball out and have the wherewithal to hit the gas and take it to the house was a huge momentum change.  I think that obviously was the play of the game.”

The next time Brockway got the ball, they drove into field goal range and Caleb Daugherty connected on a 30-yarder to put his team up by four points 24-20.  Early in the 4th quarter, after six second half incompletions in a row, Patton threw a beauty, hitting Kyle Kennedy in stride.  Kennedy did the rest racing the rest of the distance to put the finishing touch on the 74-yard pass play.  Daugherty’s PAT sent Brockway into a 31-20 lead with 9:38 left in the game.  But, hold the phone this game was far, far from over. 

Aiden Patton, #10 in black center of picture was Brockway’s leading rusher in this game. #0 for Brockway is Kolton Kahle. #2 for St. Marys is Frankie Smith. PHOTO BY SHANE LUX.

St. Marys traversed the field in ten plays to cut the margin to 31-26.  Starting at their 20, the Flying Dutch used up four minutes mostly running the ball with Field getting a big chunk on an 18-yard tote.  Then on 4th down as they did earlier, Wehler found an open Cody Thompson for a 30-yard touchdown.  Game on!

The ensuing pooched kickoff was recovered by St Marys at the Brockway 22 yard line.  Suddenly the St. Marys faithful came alive again and the Brockway fans were shocked and very nervous.  The first three plays netted 12 yards and a first down at the Rover ten.  Three more plays only netted two yards thanks to a broken play on first down.  Facing 4th and goal from the eight, Wehler rolled out to his right but was sacked by Madox Decker for a 17-yard loss.  The Brockway faithful were relieved, but not for long.

A three and out forced the Rovers to punt and Bruno Stager returned it to the Brockway 30 with 1:27 remaining.  A 9-yard pass to Smith began the drive.  Then after an incomplete pass, Collin Weir of Brockway stepped in front of Wehler’s third down pass to seal the Rover victory.

Collin Weir #9 in black had been out for a few games and returned for the playoffs, giving the Rovers their top RB an added offensive edge. Also pictured is #55 for Brockway, Blake Mowrey and #3 in white for St. Marys, Talon Thomas. PHOTO BY SHANE LUX.

“First time since 2002-2003 back to back (titles) is massive for our program,” said Heigel.  An elated Aiden Patton told us, “I always dreamed of this.”  Matt Winnings chimed in with, “it feels great.”

St. Marys finishes the season with a 4-7 record having dropped a regular season game 20-13 to Brockway too.  Brockway improves to 7-4 and will get a week off, then they will face the District 6 winner.

Score by Quarters:

St. Marys – 6 14 0 6 – 26

Brockway – 7 8 9 7 – 31

Scoring Summary:

First Quarter:

SM – Andrew Field 8-yard run, (PAT no good), 8:48

B – Carter Himes 3-yard run, (Caleb Daugherty PAT), 4:50

Second Quarter:

SM – Field 36-yard run, (PAT no good), 6:00

B – Matthew Winnings 3-yard run, (Aiden Patton pass to Kyle Kennedy for 2-point conversion), 0:50

SM – Frankie Smith 32-yard pass from Brody Wehler, (Field run 2-point conversion), 0:02

Third Quarter:

B – Winnings 37-yard fumble return, (2-point run failed), 10:32

B – Daugherty 30-yard FG, 5:45

Fourth Quarter:

B – Kyle Kennedy 74-yard pass from Patton, (Daugherty PAT), 9:38

SM – Cody Thompson 30-yard pass from Wehler, (2-point run failed), 5:43

Individual Stats:

Rushing: St. Marys – Andrew Field 22-121, Bruno Stager 6-24, Brody Wehler 10-(24), Landon Cook 4-9, Frankie Smith 2-15, Talon Thomas 2-0, Team 1-(11). Totals: 47-134.  Brockway – Aiden Patton 12-71, Collin Weir 9-59, Matthew Winnings 2-6, Kolton kahle 1-8, Carter Himes 1-3. Totals: 25-147.  

Passing: St. Marys – Brody Wehler 9-14, 116 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception.  Brockway – Aiden Patton 10-20, 139 yards, 1 touchdown.

Receiving: St. Marys – Frankie Smith 5-77, 1 TD; Talon Thomas 3-9; Cody Thompson 1-30, 1 TD.  Totals: 9-116, 2 TDs.  Brockway – Kolton Kahle 3-36; Caleb Daugherty 3-17; Carter Himes 3-12; Kyle Kennedy 1-74, 1 TD.  Totals: 10-139, 1 TD.

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