Spartans Clinch Class A North in a Thriller

Just like last week, Starpoint got off to a slow start and came back in the final minutes to win on Friday night. The Spartans defeated the Williamsville South Billies 41-37 on a last second touchdown run by Anthony Robinson.

The Billies led 14-0 at the end of the 1st quarter. Chris Nelson scored first on a three yard run and QB Josh Foster found Mark Worthy for six yards later in the quarter.

Early in the 2nd quarter, QB Aaron Chase took it in himself for six yards to put Starpoint on the board. Terry Rutland took a punt return all the way to tie the game. Will South responded back as Foster kept the ball for a 12 yard touchdown. Later, Chase found Sam Mazzara wide open for to tie the game at the half.

The Billies opened up the 2nd half, with a big 48 yard touchdown run by Antwanne Jones. An Elijah Wells 26-yard field goal added three points for Will South. Later, Chase and Mazzara connected again for a touchdown. Will South led 31-27 heading into the 4th.

Starpoint got their first lead of the game as Rutland took a handoff 19 yards for the score. The Billies responded back as Foster took it himself once again.

After the ensuing kickoff went out of bounds, the Spartans decided to have Will South re-kick. On the second try, the Billies did an onside kick and recovered it.

With four minutes to go it looked as though Will South was going to at least burn a good amount of time off the clock, if not score and pull off the upset. However, after getting inside the ten, Mazzara picked off Foster in the endzone.

Starpoint had only three minuntes to drive 80 yards in order to keep their perfect record.

The Will South defense forced the Spartans into two 4th downs on the drive, but gambled on the first with an all-out blitz and an offside penalty on the second gave the Spartans a 1st down.

With 29 seconds left, Starpoint gave the ball to Anthony Robinson who scored the game winning touchdown.

The Billies made one last attempt after getting down to the Spartans’ 36 yard line. Foster was intercepted on the desperation heap during the final play.

Chase threw for 123 yards and two touchdowns on 12 throws. Anthony Robinson had 12 carries for 59 yards and the game-winning score.

Robinson said after the game “It feels great, we had a slow start…(everyone) just stepped up”.

Williamsville South Head Coach Kraig Kurzanski was proud of his team after the game, saying “We just left it all out here tonight… they made one more play at the end of the game.”

Starpoint Head Coach Al Cavagnaro gave praise to the Billies for their effort and was happy to be a part of such an exciting game, “What a great game. They’re tough. It was a great back and forth game.”

The Spartans fell behind early for the second week in a row but Cavagnaro knew that his team wasn’t going to lay down, “Starpoint kids just don’t quit” said Cavagnaro.

The Coaching staff has a lot of trust in their players. It showed in the final drive, even though they had all three timeouts. The Spartans did not take a timeout until the offense got down inside the 10-yard line.

With the win, Starpoint (5-0, 6-0) clinches their second consecutive Class A North title, giving them home field in the first two rounds of the playoffs. The Spartans host Sweet Home (2-3, 2-4) on Friday night at 7pm. Williamsville South (3-2, 3-3) now heads to Grand Island (3-1, 4-1) on Friday night at 7pm.