Falcons make it 2 in a row after victory over West Seneca West
It was a performance that took all three phases of the game, but the Frontier Falcons continued their hot start to the 2021 season, beating West Seneca West 21-12 in front of a raucous home crowd.
The game was expected to feature a heavy dose of senior running back Dylan Mack, who started things off with a 27-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. However, after that it was fellow senior Vinnie Monaco who was the hot hand for the Falcons.
Monaco ran for two touchdowns of his own from nine and 22 yards out. His biggest run of the night came after a red zone interception by Mack. On a third down, Monaco ran for 42 yards to ultimately seal the game for Frontier. “We wanted to win this game,” Monaco said. “We had some good blocking upfront, and they made it happen.” After a back-and-forth first half that saw Frontier leading 14-12 going into the locker room. In the second half, the Indians couldn’t find an answer on offense. Even when a bounce went their way — a tipped pass from Terry Nichols Jr. ended up in the hands of Justin Piwowarczyk for a 62-yard gain– they just couldn’t find their way into the endzone.
“I’m really proud of the way our defense stood up in the second half,” Falcons head coach Rich Gray said. “We were able to contain (Isaiah Simmons) and that’s hard to do.”
As far as the performance of Monaco is concerned, Gray said it was all about going with the hot hand.
“The plays with him seemed to work for us, so we just kind of rode him,” he said. On special teams, quarterback (QB) and kicker (K) Austin Lippert used his leg to help the Falcons dominate the field position game. Two of his kickoffs went into the endzone for a touchback while two of his punts saw the Indians forced to start inside the 10.
At 2-0, Frontier is going to start turning some heads within Section A. It’s going to be up to Gray to keep the team grounded and balanced as the season moves forward.
“This is a very, very tough division,” Gray said. “We’re just taking it one week at a time. We’re going to enjoy this one, but when we wake up we’re going to start stressing about Jamestown.” For West Seneca West, head coach Mike Vastola told his team afterward that a single loss wasn’t going to define their season. The bright spot of the game for West Seneca West was Tevin Mobley’s two touchdown receptions of eight and 77 yards.
The Indians will have a possible injury concern to deal with moving forward, however. Senior QB Lucas Freeland appeared to suffer an ankle injury in the 2nd quarter, leading to a change of strategy for the West Seneca West offense. For a team that relies on a two-quarterback system, losing the better runner of the two QBs
Up next for the Falcons is a game against Class A power Jamestown. West Seneca West will look to rebound against Hamburg.