Bruins playing spoiler role for homecoming
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WELLSBURG -- The Brooke Bruins are looking to end their 2017 season on a high note in the final three weeks, starting this Friday with a matchup against Buckhannon-Upshur at Brooke Memorial Stadium on homecoming night.
"It will be a bigger than normal atmosphere with people coming back for homecoming," Brooke coach Mac McLean said. "I told the kids that on Saturday night, the dance isn't going to be quite as fun if we don't get a win on Friday night."
The Bruins (1-6) are coming off of a loss to a good John Marshall team last week, in which it led 14-12 at halftime before seeing the Monarchs put up 25 unanswered.
"We were in the fight for most of the night," McLean said. "Like most of our games this year, that final score is not completely indicative of how close the game really was. I was proud of our defense for the most part. They were a good football team in all facets of the game."
In this week's opponent, the 3-4 Buccaneers, McLean sees a lot of similarities between the two clubs and the mistakes that have hurt their efforts.
"I've seen them on film against a common opponent in University High School," he said. "University roughed them up pretty good. I'm not completely sure of their age, but I would think they are a young football team. For losing a lopsided game to University they were able to make some plays against them. They just weren't able to do it consistently enough to make a difference.
"I would say that Friday is going to be a very even matchup. Sadly some of the similarities I see have their coach not sleeping at night either. They make a lot of self destructive mistakes at key times, and I feel for the guy. I can understand that kind of frustration."
Brooke will not be competing in the postseason, but Buckhannon-Upshur is only three spots out of the top 16 in West Virginia Class AAA, sitting in 19th. The Bruins would love nothing more than to spoil the Buccaneers remaining chances.
"We're going to embrace the roll of spoiler," McLean said. "We've got three football games left, and while there is not going to be a postseason for Brooke High School this year, I've told the kids there is still a lot to play for. For the vast majority of my senior class they've only got three more opportunities to play the game of football, and that should be motivation enough."
Brooke is led by junior quarterback Gage Yost, who has completed 40-of-80 passes for 564 yards, four touchdowns and seven interceptions. He has added 315 yards and three more touchdowns on 49 carries, averaging 6.5 yards per to be the team's leading rusher. Junior Dalton Valero has 138 yards on 49 carries, and sophomore Max Camilletti has 112 and a score on 47 carries.
Senior receiver Ethan Secrist is the fourth-ranked pass catcher in the Herald-Star/Daily Times coverage area, hauling in 25 passes for 451 yards and three touchdowns. Fellow senior Tripp Moore has 12 catches for 126 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Junior Alexy Rasz has five catches for 46 yards.
The Bruins offense as a whole puts up 211.1 yards and 11.7 points per contest, with a pretty even split of 101 on the ground and 110.1 through the air.
On defense, Brooke has yielded 330.6 yards and 29.9 points per game, giving up 241.9 on the ground and just 88.7 through the air.
The Buccaneers score an average of 15.4 points per game, while giving up an average of 26.9 points. They are 2-2 in their last four games.