CLARION, Clarion County — It took barely any time for Brookville to grab an 8-0 lead against Moniteau in their District 9 Class 3A title game on Tuesday night. The lead only grew from there as the Raiders held the advantage in the entirety of the 63-37 win.

As soon as the game started, the Brookville student section made their presence known as they erupted when the Raiders scored four quick buckets. Three of the four came off of turnovers as they were able to rattle the young Warriors team.

“I thought we played a little scared in the beginning, but as the first half went on, we were able to get over it,” Moniteau head coach Michael Jewart said.

Down by eight early on, the Warriors had two choices — lay down and let the experienced Brookville team pour it on or find a way to battle back into it.

After Brookville took a 10-2 lead, Moniteau strung together two quick baskets, the second of which came on a nice floater from freshman guard Andrew Zepeda. He’s someone who was thrust into a big role in midst of the season, and in that role, he was able to prove that he can be someone that the Warriors lean can on.

As the game went on, the story became less about winning, but rather the Warriors got a taste of where they want to be.

“I thought they did a great job of staying in it, they’ve got two really good guards I was real worried about,” Brookville head coach Dalton Park said. “They were a real well-rounded team.”

As the half hit, Brookville was up 33-19 and they tried to just hold the ball for the last minute of the second quarter to get into the locker rooms.

When play resumed, a score from Clayton Cook had the Raiders up by 15, but Moniteau quickly cut it back down to an 11-point deficit. That was the closest they’d get for the rest of the game.

“We made a bit of a run at the start of the second half, but their physicality was just too much for us,” Jewert said.

A 9-0 run made it a 20-point game in the blink of an eye as the Raiders continued to use their size and experience. Just as Moniteau was starting to get some energy, it was ripped away and they never got it back.

The final period of play didn’t play out much different. In the end, Moniteau got a glimpse of where they want to be, but it was quite clear that they aren’t quite there yet.

“Brookville is a really solid team, and we’ll build (off of tonight) by using that as our example of what we need to get to,” Jewart said. “We’ve got a young squad, so hopefully they see where we expect to be next year.”

BROOKVILLE 63

Clayton Cook 7 7-9 17, Noah Peterson 6 6-7 13, Connor Marshall 6 6-7 12, Jack Pete 5 5-7 10, Caleb Kornbau 2 2-2 4, Kellan Haines 1 1-1 3, Issac Hetrick 1 1-1 2, Zayden Jordan 1-1 2. Totals: 29 29-35 63.

MONITEAU 37

Colton Thomas 6 6-9 15, Andrew Zepeda 4 4-9 9, David Dessicino 3 3-6 6, Aydan Jackson 2 2-4 4, Landon Kelly 0 0-0 2, Connor Ealy 0 0-1 1, David Martino 0 0-2 0. Totals: 15 15-30 37.

3-point field goals: Moniteau 2 (Thomas 2); Brookville 2 (Haines, Peterson)