Harper/Payne lead C. Lake to Section VI Class C Title

Carson Hayek
Nov 13
3 min read

Orchard Park, N.Y.- Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton’s defense dazzled in a 21-0 upset over Southwestern/Frewsberg in the Class C Section VI final at Highmark Stadium Thursday night.

On the first drive of the game, the Eagle defense forced a three-and-out. Southwestern punted, and Chatatuqua Lake sophomore athlete Aiden Woodis muffed a punt, resulting in Trojan senior athlete Adrian Torres recovering the loose ball deep into Eagle territory.

On a Trojan fourth down, senior cornerback Carson Fairbank intercepted Southwesterm senior quarterback Trent Lewis’ pass to keep the game scoreless with 10:54 remaining in the opening quarter.

Following a drive for each team that stalled out in the first quarter, Chautauqua Lake found the end zone first with 10:00 left in the first half. Eagles junior running back Thandon Bensink powered his way to the endzone on a two-yard rushing touchdown, earning Chautauqua Lake a 6-0 lead.

With 6:06 remaining in the first quarter, Eagles senior gunslinger Brayden Gibbs fumbled and Trojan junior linebacker Zach Markham fell on the football at Chautauqua Lake’s 26-yard line.

Less than two minutes later, Southwestern gave the ball right back. Lewis threw his second pick of the night to Woodis near the red zone, keeping the Eagles' lead, 6-0.

The Eagles' defense continued to limit the Trojan offense just before halftime. Lewis returned a Chautauqua Lake punt 50 yards to put the Trojans at the Eagles' 16-yard line with 1:30 left in the second quarter. In the final 90 seconds, the Eagles held the Trojans scoreless to hold a 6-0 lead at half,

Coming out of halftime, the Eagles added to their lead. Chautauqua Lake’s Brayden Gibbs connected on two long completions on the scoring drive. Brayden Gibbs found Fairbank for a 44-yard completion and senior wide receiver Devin Hewes for a 29-yard strike. Sophomore athlete, Tristen Gibbs, capped off the drive with a 15-yard rushing score to extend the Eagles' lead to 14-0 with 7:40 remaining in the third quarter.

The Eagles added insurance with 2:41 left in the third quarter when senior tailback Clayton Smith scampered into the endzone on a seven-yard carry, enlarging Chautauqua Lake’s advantage to 21-0.

The Eagles' defense completed the shutout in the fourth quarter to finalize Chautauqua Lake’s 21-0 victory.

On Oct. 3, Southwestern defeated Chautauqua Lake 45-0. Playing with nothing to lose mentally was vital for the Eagles.

“We knew last time we didn’t play to the best of our abilities,” Bensink said. “We kept getting better and better, came into this game like a ball of fire, and played like we had nothing to lose.”

A major change from Week 5 was that Chautauqua Lake matched Southwestern’s physicality. “We knew we had to be more physical than them and we did that for four quarters straight,” Fairbank said.

Chautauqua Lake won the turnover battle and forced two interceptions. Bensink believed turnovers were a major part of the victory.

“Turnovers helped push us forward all game,” Bensink said. “Turnovers put us in good field position to score and helped guide us to victory.”

On Oct. 3, Southwestern defeated Chautauqua Lake 45-0. According to Brayden Gibbs, not getting caught up in the moment was key.

“You see this huge stadium and [being for the section], it’s easy to get intimidated,” Gibbs said. “At the end of the day, it’s just football, we played our brand of football, came up on top, and winning a stacked Class C is huge.”

Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton advances to the Far West Regionals next week. The opponent, time, and date are still to be determined.