Maryvale, 16 other WNY teams get better at Lancaster 7-on-7 Tournament

Getting revenge on their crosstown rivals was nice, but the Maryvale Flyers football team had far more important things to celebrate after beating the Cheektowaga Warriors 27-12 to win the Small School Championship at the third annual Lancaster Football 7-on-7 Tournament Tuesday.

After falling in the first two games to Pioneer and Southwestern, Maryvale turned it around winning four straight games to capture the championship.

That resiliency was what Flyers’ coach Jeff Buccieri was the proudest of.

“We didn’t start out very well,” Buccieri said. “But we battled hard all day and they took some pretty hard coaching, were happy with the outcome today. (Our coaching staff) challenged them today and they responded.”

The Flyers along with 17 other teams, 16 from Western New York, came to Lancaster to get better and prepare for the upcoming season.

It wasn’t the real thing but the tournament provided the opportunity for quarterbacks and receivers to get on the same page while defenses had the chance to defend different formations, plays and players that they don’t normally see and weren’t their own teammates.

“This is an opportunity to get the team together to work on your pass plays and coverages,” Buccieri said. “Yes, it’s nice to win the championship. We’ve been coming to these tournaments for a long time and it’s something we haven’t done but you have to have the pads on.”

Returning Connolly Cup finalists Cole Snyder (Southwestern), KeShone Beal (Cheektowaga) and Rashad Law (Maryvale) and their teams were all there Wednesday to compete.

Many of the area’s top quarterbacks including, Connor Desiderio (Maryvale), Aaron Chase (Starpoint), Jordan Parks (Niagara-Wheatfield), Jack Sharp (Orchard Park), Jack Putney (Clarence) and Joe Nusall (Williamsville North) were on display at the tournament.

Host Lancaster fell to eventual Large school champion Cathedral Prep of Erie, PA in the quarterfinals. Defending Class A state champion West Seneca West made it the Large school title game.

After earning the No. 8 seed in the Small School playoffs, Niagara-Wheatfield knocked off top seed Iroquois in the quarterfinals.

Small schools Akron, Springville, Lake Shore and large schools Lockport and St. Joe’s also participated in the tournament.

Connor Desiderio and Rashad Law from Maryvale after the Tournament