By John Schiano
MaxPreps.com
Charles Darwin could have done research for his doctoral dissertation on Section V football, where it truly was survival of the fittest in week six. Fifteen teams began Friday with perfect records, and only eight walked away with 6-0 marks by the time action had concluded Saturday on the penultimate weekend of the regular season.
Five of the seven losses were to unbeaten teams and two were to one-loss clubs as teams continued preparation for potentially six weeks of one-and-done postseason football that begins for most sections and classes in New York with the weekend of Oct. 24-25.
Marshall and Brockport suffered their first Class AA losses, but the biggest development among the large schools in the Rochester area was Hilton’s 42-32 victory over host Gates Chili. Both teams have chewed up huge quantities of yardage on the ground this fall, but mid-Septemberish weather allowed the Cadets to go heavy with their consistently successful passing attack.
Adam Gruschow caught four touchdown passes and quarterback Duell Smith went 18-for-30 for 227 yards and three scores in the course of overcoming an 18-6 Gates Chili lead early in the second quarter.
Gruschow’s 16-yard catch of a Jeffrey Stanton throw off a fake field goal gave the Cadets a 35-25 lead with 4:25 to play after the Spartans had clawed back to within a field goal by driving 75 yards to a 10-yard Rickey Stevens TD run.
The Cadets extended the lead to 42-25 on Smith’s 34-yard pass to Gruschow (nine catches for 146 yards), then survived a Gates Chili TD and onside kick recovery in the final 2:30.
Special-teams trickery also figured in Webster Schroeder’s 24-14 win at Brockport. Mark Saltrelli’s 34-yard run out of punt formation early in the fourth quarter broke open a 10-7 game.
McQuaid wrapped up a Rochester City Athletic Conference championship and prepared for its game at defending state Class A champion Aquinas by knocking off Marshall, 41-32, behind Tomarris Bell’s 17 carries for 164 yards and three touchdowns. Junior fullback John Jenkins rushed 11 times for 189 yards for the Knights.
As big as the Aquinas-McQuaid rivalry is, no annual grudge match in Section V is bigger than Le Roy vs. Caledonia-Mumford. The schools are located less than 15 minutes apart and held the 75th renewal of their series on Friday, with LeRoy winning for the ninth time in their last 10 games.
Drew Alexander (114 yards) and John Casper each scored two touchdowns as LeRoy rallied from an early 14-0 deficit for a 27-20 win. Oatkan Knight quarterback Travis Fenstermaker completed 11 of his 13 passes, including a 25-yarder to Alexander in the second quarter.
In the other Section V showdowns that ended undefeated campaigns:
* Canandaigua drove 71 yards to the go-ahead TD, a Nick Michalko one-yard run with 2:35 to go, and Thomas LaCrosse preserved the 14-13 victory over Geneva by blocking a short field-goal attempt with :25 left.
* Hornell topped Bath, 14-7, as Zach Harkenrider (9-of-16 for 168 yards) threw fourth-quarter TDs of 81 and 18 yards.
* Tim Smith scored on a 10-yard carry and Brad Riner ran in the two-point conversion with :17 to play as Oakfield-Alabama escaped against Pembroke, 25-24.
West Genesee Gets Back On Track
Dave Hildman's 55-yard interception return for a score started West Genesee toward a 28-22 victory against No. 7 Syracuse CBA as the Brothers came uncharacteristically unglued in the third quarter by giving the ball up on four interceptions and a fumbled kickoff return to set up 21 unanswered points.
The Wildcats' Jim Marks went 10-of-17 for 191 yards and two touchdowns. His 31-yard throw to John Glesener gave West Genesee a 21-9 lead midway through the third quarter. Following an interception by Matt McCabes, Marks drove West Genesee 95 yards in seven plays, capped by a 40-yard run by senior Jeremy Jones.
West Genesee, the 2007 New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class AA champion, was coming off a 47-37 loss to previously winless Fayetteville-Manlius.
Xavier Posts Pinball-Machine Numbers
Xavier running back Seamus Kelly scored seven touchdowns and rolled up 448 all-purpose yards in an 86-42 CHSFL win over Cardinal Hayes. The 5-foot-11 senior rushed for 291 yards and five touchdowns on just eight carries, returned a kickoff 85 yards for a score and caught a 72-yard TD pass on the Knights' only throw of the game.
Kelly’s rushing TDs covered 57, 71, 57, 35 and 50 yards. He also ran in a pair of two-point conversions to account for 46 Xavier points and has racked up 1,100 rushing yards plus 258 on receptions through five games.
Xavier's single-wing offense, which has produced 40 or more points each time out this fall, scored touchdowns on four of its first five snaps from scrimmage and built a 57-30 lead at the half as Kelly piled up six TDs.
"They run the single-wing extremely well," Cardinal Hayes coach C.J. O'Neil told The Daily News. "Seamus is an exceptional player in an exceptional system. We couldn't keep pace with 86 points."
More Football: Weekend Heroes
* Defending state Class B champion and top-ranked Rye edged Byram Hills, 21-7, as sophomore Connor Eck (7-for-8, 90 yards) threw a 14-yard TD pass to Donald Keough in the fourth quarter one play after Andrew Wood recovered a mishandled punt return.
* Also in Section I, Jack Newton scored four fourth-quarter TDs in a seven-minute span to carry Rye Neck over Tuckahoe, 28-20. Newton tallied on a 5-yard run, a 46-yard catch on fullback Dan Datino's throw, and runs of 17 and 45 yards.
* New Rochelle got past Mount Vernon, 21-7, as Jonny McGhee threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Lou DiRienzo late to break open a close game. McGhee was 7-for-12 for 110 yards.
* Mike Belluzzi ran for 243 yards, including 199 on 14 first-half carries, and four TDs for John Jay-East Fishkill in a 31-17 win over No. 23 Mahopac.
* Bunduka Kargbo (92 passing yards, 143 rushing) opened the fourth quarter with a 10-yard TD run, Tymear Mallory followed on the next possession with a 65-yard scoring scamper and Bishop Maginn (6-0) won Section II’s biggest Class A game to date by 27-20 over previously unbeaten Troy. It was the third time this season the Golden Griffins came from behind in the fourth quarter to win.
* Capitalizing on fumbles on LaSalle's first two offensive plays, Nick Ottati scored on three 1-yard runs in the first quarter of a 34-7 Schenectady victory to wrap up the Patriots' first league title. Ottati threw for 131 yards and one touchdown.
* Fonda-Fultonville QB Josh Nethaway threw for 304 yards and a pair of scores in a 25-18 victory against Watervliet.
* In Section III, Onondaga scored 30 consecutive fourth-quarter points to fight off Weedsport, 36-28. Teddy Zabel connected on a 25-yard pass to Chris Coda for the winning TD.
* In Section V, Victor (6-0) senior Chuck Beckwith carried 32 times for 175 yards and five touchdowns to down Churchville-Chili, 49-26. Senior QB Chris Rose was 19-of-27 for 286 yards with two touchdowns to help offset C-C junior Corey Nicholson, who piled up 329 yards and three touchdowns on 35 carries.
* Jake Bolan went 21-for-28 for 304 yards and five TDs to spark Webster Thomas past Spencerport, 53-43. Eriksen Simmons caught six passes for 133 yards and three touchdowns and also ran 19 times for 76 yards and two touchdowns.
* Iroquois escaped with a 22-19 win over West Seneca East in Section VI after scoring 15 points in the fourth quarter. Brandon Murie (24 carries for 81 yards) scored the winning TD with 7:56 left.
* Lackawanna routed Eden, 43-3, as Capone Smith ran 12 times for 280 yards and two TDs and threw for another score.
* Buffalo McKinley pounded Hutch-Tech, 40-6, as Kevin Chillis carried 22 times for 354 yards and three touchdowns, returned a punt 64 yards for another score and added an interception.
* Joe Licata completed 24 of 36 passes for 320 yards and two touchdowns to Daeshaune Clark, who scored five times for Williamsville South in a 48-20 win over Amherst.
* In a North Country pairing of unbeatens, Ogdensburg Free Academy cruised past Saranac Lake, 22-0, as Tylor Stevenson scored twice including on a 75-yard punt return.
* Donald Exner rushed 36 times for 277 yards and three TDs for Ellenville in a 52-7 win against Millbrook. Nick Finger of Millbrook, who set a state record last week with 58 points for Millbrook, managed 73 yards on 10 carries.
* QB Dan Scalo ran 21 times for 200 yards and scored once to lift Monroe-Woodbury to a 37-14, intersectional victory over Saratoga Springs. Scalo also hit 6 of 12 passes for 100 yards and a TD for M-W, which rallied from a 14-7 deficit.
* James Ferrier, who missed most of the last four games with a sprained ankle, ran in a two-point conversion run with 2:47 left that carried Minisink Valley past Newburgh, 16-13. His 10-yard TD run had cut the NFA lead to 13-12, and Minisink Valley coach Kevin Gallagher gambled for the win by going for the two-point conversion.
* Bethpage rolled past Plainedge, 42-12, as Kevin Glueckert rushed 18 times for 157 yards and three touchdowns. Joe Miceli (nine carries, 101 yards) picked up 58 yards on a run early in the third quarter to set up Glueckert's third TD and put the game out of reach.
* Northport remained unbeaten with a 41-34 win against Ward Melville in two overtimes. Dan Russo rushed 32 times for 241 yards and four touchdowns -- including a 20-yard romp in the second OT -- and gained 166 yards after halftime.
* Hempstead senior Terrell Williams had 436 all-purpose yards and tied his own school record with five TDs in a 46-36 win against Massapequa. Williams ran 12 times for 253 yards and three TDs, had two receptions for 94 yards and a TD and returned a kickoff 85 yards for a score. Rob Von Bargen went 17-for-32 for 272 yards and three TDs in the loss.
* In the CHSFL, Chaminade rallied past Holy Trinity, 14-13, on Stephen Chmil's 21-yard TD to Michael Ehrhardt and Ryan Higgins' four-yard run with 2:15 to play.
* St. Anthony’s took control of the league race with a 37-28 victory against St. Joseph’s-by-the-Sea. Junior quarterback Tom Schreiber rushed for a pair of touchdowns to extends the Friars’ record in the relatively new series to 4-0.
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.
