By John Schiano
MaxPreps.com
It’s only a month into the season, but four upstate football teams have separated themselves from the Class AA pack and are making impressive bids to be the Western representative in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association final at the Carrier Dame in Syracuse.
In Section III, defending state champion West Genesee continues to roll and demonstrates the sort of firepower that all of the top competitors exhibited in the September portion of the schedule. Fresh off a 37-6 victory over Utica Proctor this weekend, the Wildcats have outscored their opponents by 181-81. Senior quarterback Jim Marks threw for 298 yards and four scores against Proctor, giving him season numbers of 57-for-91 with 971 yards and 14 TDs.
In Section IV, Binghamton is the beast beyond taming thus far, with the 54-25 victory over Whitesboro bringing the Patriots’ scoring differential to 183-74. Jamar Smith accumulated 346 of Binghamton’s 482 rushing yards Friday and has a gaudy 866 yards on the ground for the season.
In Section V, Gates Chili powered past Penfield, 48-7 to stay perfect and maintain its scoring average. The Spartans have put up 192 points to their opponents’ 63. Rickey Stevens has rushed for 751 yards and scored 11 touchdowns, including three during a 228-yard day vs. Penfield.
And the Section VI buzzsaw is Orchard Park, a surprisingly easy 48-0 winner over previously unbeaten Clarence on Saturday, a victory that ran its season points differential to 145-6. Senior running back Jeff Tundo returned a kickoff 84 yards on his first touch of the season and hasn’t looked back since, rushing 110 times for 589 yards and scoring 12 times.
If form holds, West Genesee would play Binghamton and Gates Chili would meet Orchard Park in Week 11 in the state quarterfinals.
Monstrous Rushing Performances
Maryvale’s Brooks Estarfaa put up the third-highest rushing yardage total in state history Friday, when he carried the ball 20 times for 463 yards during a 63-31 victory against Medina.
Estarfaa, a 5-foot-10 senior, scored seven touchdowns in the game, which Maryvale trailed by 12-6 in the first quarter. He ended up with 14 first-half carries for 314 yards to build a 44-18 lead and also intercepted a pass on defense.
The previous Section VI yardage record was 458 yards by Larry Croft of Forestville on 24 carries in 1997. The state record of 569 yards was set last season by Westhill senior Dale Ross. Jason Gwaltney of North Babylon holds the No. 2 mark, a 467-yard effort in 2003.
At the same time Estarfaa was putting up his numbers, Lockport junior David Fluellen was running 17 times for five TDs and a school-record 382 yards during a 43-31 win over Niagara Falls. Fluellen had to sit out the first quarter after missing a practice during the week.
Tamarac’s Frantic Rally Falls Short
Senior David Fox threw four touchdowns passes and ran for a fifth score - all in the fourth quarter - but it wasn't enough to rally Tamarac past Fonda-Fultonville in a battle of unbeaten Section 2 football teams Saturday.
Host Fonda-Fultonville held on for a 41-39 victory after almost giving away all of a 31-point lead into the final 12 minutes.
Tamarac's final score in the rally, which included two successful onside kicks, came on Fox's 3-yard run with 1:33 to go, but a two-point conversion throw to Nick Knauer missed connecting in the right corner of the end zone, after which the Braves ran out the clock.
Fox, intercepted three times in the first half, completed 10 consecutive passes in the fourth quarter and threw for 173 yards in the period. Overall, he was 20-for-33 for 346 yards and also carried 15 times for 67 yards. Fonda-Fultonville quarterback Josh Nethaway went 13-for-19 for 249 yards and scored on a 58-yard run early in the fourth quarter.
Tamarac, with only three winning seasons in the last 25 years and an 18-76 mark since 1996 entering the game, had allowed only six points through its first three games.
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Dundee, ranked 10th by the New York State Sportswriters Association in Class D, had absolutely no trouble during a 53-14 rout of Marcus Whitman, ranked seventh in Class C. Steven Webb (nine carries, 197 yards) scored on consecutive carries covering 31 and 92 yards bridging the first two quarters, and Ryan Ballard ran nine times for 166 yards and four TDs.
"You know what I felt like today?" Marcus Whitman coach Brian Wickham asked a reporter from The Daily Messenger in Canandaigua. "I felt like a broken telephone answering machine because I had no answer for anything that they did."
More Football: Weekend Football Heroes
* With both starting running backs hobbled by injuries, junior fullback Erik Pfiffner rushed for 118 yards and a touchdown on nine carries to lead Somers over Eastchester, 28-6.
* John Jay East-Fishkill surprised Carmel, 12-7 by controlling the ball for almost the entire fourth quarter. Mike Bulluzzi gained 114 yards on the ground.
* Glens Falls senior Dan Morrison piled up 225 of Glens Falls' 517 yards on the ground and scored first-half TDs covering 10, 20, 49, 49 and 23 yards to beat South Glens Falls, 56-7.
* Marcus Brandon caught three first-half TDs from Nick Ottati to give Schenectady a 21-point lead en route to a 21-19 win at Newburgh Free Academy. Defenders Dan Desbiens and Billy Rios stopped Newburgh QB John Pilego on a sneak on fourth-and-one from the Patriots’ 13 with :52 left to preserve the victory.
* Leejay Pollacchi rushed for three TDs and made an interception as Saratoga (4-0) beat Shenendehowa, 30-21, and matched its 2007 victories total.
* East Syracuse-Minoa drove 15 plays and 87 yards to a Vince Caraballo TD reception late in the third quarter and beat Cortland, 14-7, as two of Central New York’s best Class A teams squared off.
* Sidney sophomore QB Dylan Umbra ran for 118 yards and two TDs in a 32-26 upset of Bainbridge-Guilford. Umbra's 14-yard draw with 15 seconds to go finished off a 12-play, 76-yard drive for the victory.
* Unbeaten Hilton, pointing to a game against Gates Chili in two weeks, scored the final 23 points and dominated state-ranked Pittsford, 37-14. Senior Justin Knorr set a school record with 311 yards on 39 carries and junior QB Duell Smith threw for two scores as part of the Cadets’ 529-yard attack.
* Rochester Marshall edged East, 34-27, as sophomore Ashton Broyld (12-for-25, 240 yards) threw for four TDs and ran for another.
* Senior Tim Smith intercepted two passes and carried the ball 25 times for 185 yards and three touchdowns for Oakfield-Alabama in topping Batavia Notre Dame, 28-6.
* Cleveland Hill breezed past Akron, 53-13, as Rhakeem Wiggins completed all five of his throws for 142 yards and two TDs and ran for 140 yards.
* Alex Neutz made four catches for 137 yards and three touchdowns in the first quarter of Grand Island's 47-0 win against Williamsville East. Eddie Weiser ran 10 times for 147 yards and two TDs to help build a 47-point halftime lead.
* Casey Kacz threw six touchdown passes - five in the first half - as Sweet Home broke to a 43-7 lead and beat back Williamsville South, 43-35.
* Eric Ippolito ran for 175 yards and two scores for Fredonia, which forced five turnovers and beat East Aurora, 21-7. Next up is a Class B showdown with Lackawanna as both squads try to get to 5-0.
* Brendan Thierry’s interception set up a Jim Carlson TD reception with 18 seconds to go as Moriah edged Ticonderoga, 22-14, in a mild Section VII upset. It was Carlson’s third score of the game.
* William Floyd ran its winning streak to 36 games by beating Sachem East, 33-7 on Vaughn Magee's 10 carries for 101 yards and three touchdowns.
* Miguel Maysonet of Riverhead scored on runs of 80, 68 and 33 yards and rushed for 286 yards on 19 carries to beat North Babylon, 20-8.
* Quarterback Scott Mattera kept the ball on an option and scored from 15 yards out to carry West Islip over Bellport in double overtime, 13-7.
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 johnschianosports@gmail.com.
