OC Rivals win first sectional title, 28-14
AMHERST — Early in October, OC Rivals trailed Maryvale late in the third quarter when coach Eric Valley gathered his team together during a timeout. “I’m going to learn everything about your character in the next 13 minutes,” he told his players. They scored four unanswered touchdowns and won by 12.
On Friday night at UB’s Broadview Stadium, Valley saw his team’s character emerge in a crisis once again. Late in the third quarter, OC Rivals trailed West Seneca East by a point. But after playing a sloppy game to that point, the Rivals rose up and dominated in the fourth quarter to defeat the Trojans, 28-14, in the Section VI Class B Football title game.
There were rumblings in Orleans County when Albion and Medina merged the programs last spring, ending a rivalry that went back to 1898. Some alumni weren’t wild about it. The players had their doubts, too. But in the end, Valley’s team combined the best of both towns and brought home a championship.
Elijah Doxey, who had 108 yards rushing, raced around the end for a 14-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter to give OC Rivals the lead. Late in the fourth, Noah Harrison scored from 1-yard out to seal it. Harrison, primarily a receiver during the season, rushed for 132 yards and two TDs.
West Seneca East was hobbled by injuries. The Trojans were without starting quarterback Joey Molnar. Josh Urban, their star senior tailback, scored his 37th touchdown of the season on the game’s opening drive, but was hurt early in the second half and wasn’t the same afterwards. He finished with 94 yards rushing as the Trojans were limited to just 92 total yards in the second half.
But in some ways, this was a masterpiece by Valley, an accomplished artist who is known as a top offensive mind in football circles. Harrison, a transfer from Canisius High, had rushed for 229 yards all season. But Valley decided to employ his offensive gifts as a running back, and it paid dividends.
OC Rivals moves on to play the winner of Saturday’s Section V Class A between Rochester East and Honeoye Falls in the Far West Regionals next weekend.
Considering that East had beaten OC Rivals, 35-34, in a mid-season meeting in Albion, fans expected a similar shootout in the final. But for much of the first half, they were subjected to a mistake-filled, injury-riddled defensive slog. Overall, the teams combined for 18 penalties, 11 for 86 yards against West.
West Seneca East, helped by a Rivals personal foul, marched to a touchdown on its first possession. Senior running back Josh Urban did most of the work as usual and plowed in for an 8-yard touchdown — his 37th of the season — after 4:17 of the first quarter to give the Trojans an early 7-0 advantage.
Urban did little for the rest of the half, though, hampered somewhat by the absence of Molnar due to an injury. The Trojans had a long drive stopped by a fumble. OC Rivals threatened midway through the second, but a holding call and personal foul stifled that drive.
But Urban threw an interception to Hadrian Batista and the fireworks that had been expected finally arrived, as the teams combined for three touchdowns in the final 3:34 of the first half.
Doxey sprinted around right end for a 21-yard touchdown that tied it, 7-7, with 3:43 left in the half. After a low snap on a punt, OC Rivals took over in West Seneca East territory and struck again on an 8-yard touchdown scamper by Harrison, who rushed for 85 yards in the first half.
It appeared that the Rivals would carry the momentum into the halftime locker room. But sophomore Eric Johnson stunned the Rivals by racing untouched around right end for a 41-yard TD that gave West a 14-13 lead at the half.
Woodworth, who threw for 1,559 yards and 20 TDs during the season, went 0 for 4 passing in the first half as the Rivals didn’t have a single passing yard.
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