You had a better chance of seeing the Detroit Lions win consecutive playoff games than seeing a New York high school kicker run onto the field for a meaningful field-goal attempt. Lousy weather and natural-grass fields made for a bad combination, and coaches also weren’t wild about putting the outcome of the game on one player’s shoulders.
Somewhere along the line, though, something changed. Just last season, for instance, senior Nick Ferrara of St. Anthony’s set a state record for field goals in a season with 14, just one better than classmate Jamie Boyle of Monroe-Woodbury.
Dan Scalo, Monroe-Woodbury
File photo by Kevin Yen
Kicking heroes abounded this weekend, starting with none other than the heir to Ferrara at St. Anthony’s.
Jesse Signa’s third field goal of the afternoon, a 35-yarder as time expired, carried the Friars to a 30-28 victory Holy Trinity in a matchup of teams that entered with 5-1 records in the Catholic High School Football League and top-15 state rankings.
Signa made a 36-yarder for a 24-14 lead at the half, then pulled St. Anthony’s within a point courtesy of another 36-yarder with about four minutes to play. Dean Marlowe had given Holy Cross a 28-24 lead with a 7-yard touchdown run with 3:30 left in the third quarter. Friars quarterback Tom Schreiber was the story of the first half with a 72-yard third-down run for a TD on the opening possession of the game and a 35-yard TD run for a 21-7 lead midway through the second quarter.
More hero kickers from the weekend action, which included first-round sectional playoff action for much of the state:
* In Section II, Saratoga Catholic edged host Lake George 17-14 on a 21-yard Tim Pompa kick as time expired. It was revenge for a 32-0 loss two weeks earlier on the same field.
"Nobody gave us a chance coming in here," coach Alphonse Lambert Jr. told The Saratogian. "But the kids believed in themselves and got it done. They made plays when they had to. This is the biggest win since we won the small-school Super Bowl against Whitehall in 1974."
Pompa’s heroics were set up by a 50-yard catch-and-run by Jack Keller to the Warriors 11.
* Nate Benoit’s 42-yard field goal with :07 to play gave Grand Island a 23-20 win over No. 18 Williamsville South in the Section VI Class A quarterfinals. It was the Vikings’ fifth straight win after an 0-3 start and avenged a 32-29 loss in the opener.
* Zach Hinkson kicked a 30-yard field goal in overtime as Caledonia-Mumford eliminated Clyde-Savannah in the Section V Class DD semifinals, 17-14. Cal-Mum’s Mike Anderson scored on the final play of the first half on a 2-yard run then threw the conversion pass to Madison Suhr to tie the score at 14. The second half was scoreless, and Cal-Mum stopped the Golden Eagles on downs to open the overtime. Hinkson, a senior, then made his winning kick on a fourth-down snap.
Henninger getting hot at right time
He who takes Syracuse Henninger lightly in the Section III playoffs because the Black Knights got off to a 1-2 start last month does so at his own risk. Henninger blew an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter and then rallied past Liverpool 40-36 in the Class AA quarterfinals on an 8-yard pass from Shawn Bryant to Darryl Mercer with 27 seconds to play.
A blocked punt by Liverpool’s Mike Donitzen that was returned 15 yards by Derek Eason for a score made it 32-28 with 9:27 left; then Rich Green scored on an 95-yard punt return with 2:04 to go to give the Warriors their first lead, 36-32.
"It was crazy, really scary," Bryant told The Post-Standard after going 14-for-23 for 219 yards. "At one point, just for a second, I thought we might lose."
On 4th-and-8 from his own 22-yard line, Bryant hit Shaqueal Rowser on consecutive throws gaining 9 and 32 yards. A 21-yard completion to Cole King (who had a 46-yard interception return for a TD in the first half) and a Bryant run moved the ball to the Liverpool 8, and Bryant hit a wide-open Mercer for the TD. Henninger has outscored its last three opponents by a 122-77 margin.
Huge Section VI game looming
North Tonawanda and Orchard Park, who faced each other for the 2008 Class AA title, will this year meet in the Section VI semifinals. Orchard Park, ranked eighth by the New York State Sportswriters Association, rolled past Williamsville North 39-6, and No. 3 North Tonawanda topped Frontier 40-13.
Mike Tuzzo rushed for four TDs as North Tonawanda jumped out to a 27-0 lead, and he finished with 102 yards on 12 carries. Steve Kijowski led the team with 176 yards on the ground. Orchard Park picked up 331 rushing yards, led by Okoya Anderson (18 carries, 154 yards), who went over 1,000 yards for the season with a 63-yard touchdown run on the Quakers’ first play from scrimmage.
Friday’s winner likely gets a date in the final with No. 4 Lancaster. Kevin Schwach recorded his eighth interception of the season as undefeated Lancaster topped Niagara Falls 12-0. Also in Buffalo-area action, Albion edged defending Section VI Class B champion Lackawanna 14-6 on TD runs of 19 yards by Chris Thorton and 62 yards in the fourth quarter by Matt Gilbert.
First-yeat Purple Eagle coach Tony Osburn’s father-in-law, former Medina coach Larry Decker, died last week en route to Florida with his wife Judy after helping out in the coaches booth for the Albion-Medina rivalry game.
"The kids showed a lot of character this week," Osburn told The Buffalo News. "We talk about this game being about life. We’re a football family but I hope our kids realize there are more important things in life than football. I’m proud of the way they handled themselves."
Also in Class A, Alden upset Depew 26-13 as sophomore Ryan Sasnowski recorded 13 tackles and a sack in his varsity debut, and Christian Barczykowski caught four passes for 102 yards and returned an interception for a TD. The developments kept alive the possibility of a sectional final between Alden, coached by "rookie" Dick Diminuco, and Albion. Diminuco won more than 200 games at Albion before retiring in the spring as both coach and athletic director.
Long Island showdowns one-sided affairs
Preshod McCoy rushed for 144 yards and scored all four of his team’s touchdowns in North Babylon’s 30-6 victory over East Islip in a battle of unbeaten Section XI teams. East Islip had allowed only 32 points through its first six games, but North Babylon rolled up 249 rushing yards.
McCoy’s 30-yard run in the second quarter built a 14-0 lead before East Islip cut the margin in half before halftime. Midway through the third quarter, Dontae Caldwell returned at interception 57 yards to set up McCoy for a momentum shifted 8-yard TD run five plays later.
In another big Suffolk County contest, William Floyd was dominating in a 34-0 rout of No. 21 Northport, which had been averaging 36 points on the strength of a running game that was grinding out 285 yards per contest. Senior quarterback Darryl Moore rushed 13 times for 133 yards and three touchdowns. The first score was set up by defensive end Kevin Hauter’s blinside sack and fumble recovery at the Tigers 27. Floyd limited the Tigers to 39 carries for 76 yards and just 154 total yards.
More highlights and heroes
* Nanuet broke open a close game with 27 unanswered second-half points for a convincing, 41-7 victory over Briarcliff in Section I Class B action. The Golden Knights registered five second-half takeaways, including a pair of pick-six interceptions, and Gabe Ostrow (18 carries, 101 yards) scored two of his three TDs after intermission.
* Cambridge rolled past Voorheesville 41-0 as the defense pitched its sixth shutout and Kyle Parmenter threw three TD passes, including a 53-yarder to Jacob Butler midway through the first quarter to begin the onslaught. Junior cornerback Jesse Lybert made three of the Indians’ five interceptions and returned a punt 55 yards for a score.
* In Section III, Westmoreland went to the air for a 25-6 win over Dolgeville. Junior Dan Smith threw for two TDs and ran for another, finishing 12-for-20 for 249 yards through the air to set up a sectional final against Utica Notre Dame. It will be a rematch of Westmoreland’s 44-12 triumph in the season opener.
* Two weeks removed from being ranked No. 1 in Class B, Bath tumbled out of the postseason with a 21-19 loss to Geneva in Section V Class B. Running back Kyle Shorter scored three times before the Rams recorded their initial first down of the game. Shorter’s first score was a 76-yard pitch play after the defense posted a three-and-out deep in Geneva territory early in the first quarter. Shorter’s second score was a 65-yard interception return on the first play of the second quarter.
* Highly regarded after a 5-0 start, Bishop Kearney fell out of the postseason with a thud, losing to Wellsville 33-14. The Lions scored their first TD after the Kings’ Jake Meek recovered a wayward punt snap in the end zone and was tackled at the 2 while trying to run the ball out. Kearney was outscored 91-14 over the final three games.
* Williamsville East beat Newfane 43-0 in a consolation-bracket game to give Joe Shifflet his 200th career coaching win. Shifflet trails Johnny Barnes of Canisius (287), Gene Masters of Brocton and Grand Island (248) Dick Diminuco of Albion and Alden (210) on the Western New York list. He coached at Sweet Home, Tonawanda and Niagara Falls before becoming Williamsville East’s coach last year.
* East Aurora routed Maryvale 42-6 as Ryan Sweet opened a game with a kickoff return for a score for the third time this season. Sweet’s TD catches covering 32 and 20 yards were East Aurora’s only offensive plays during a 28-point first quarter. QB Mark Gampietro was 3-for-8 with three TDs.
* John Reicherter scored on a 20-yard run in the third overtime and Mike Sanchez force a game-ending fumble on the next snap in Wantagh’s 35-28 home win vs. Bellmore JFK. QB Kyle Ambury (14-for-25, 141 yards and two touchdowns) ran in a conversion after his 3-yard, fourth-down TD pass to Michael Games with :11 left in regulation.
* Fighting off wind and rain, Seaford beat Roosevelt 28-0 by rushing 61 times for 302 yards.
John Schiano, who has written about high school sports in western and central New York for more than 25 years, covers New York for MaxPreps. He may be reached at
