St. Francis takes MMAA Title

The St. Francis Red Raiders are champions of the Monsignor Martin Athletic Association for the fourth time in the last five years after defeating the Canisius Crusaders 41-34 at Buffalo State University’s Coyer Field on Saturday afternoon.

As the score might indicate, it was a 12-round heavyweight fight and the game wasn’t decided until the very end. Coach Jerry Smith tipped his cap to Canisius following the win.

“It's a testament to the longevity of trying to stay on top as much as you can, and these guys all responded,” Smith said. “We had a lot of guys that wanted to be a part of it, and they came in and they bought in. We’ve talked about why are kids coming to our schools?

It's because we play the best people around the best schedule. 

“This game was unbelievable. It had everything that you could possibly want and neither team backed away. I have a lot of respect for Canisius and (coach Kraig) Kurzanski. Sometimes when you know people and you know they're good people, when you go against them you have to fight all that harder. And they did the same thing.”

Quarterback Trent Buttles, named the game’s Most Valuable Player, was ecstatic.

“That was a great game against a great team with an amazing atmosphere,” Buttles said.

“We kept throwing shots at each other and I guess we finally had the knockout punch.”

Crusaders running back Elijah Kimble – who scored five touchdowns for Canisius – opened the scoring in the first quarter on a one-yard plunge and Buttles answered back on a 72-yard strike to Mason Anderson. Kimble then struck again on a 17-yard run around the edge for a score and Aiden Hopwood hauled in a 10-yard pass from Buttles.

Back and forth they went with each team having an anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better mentality. Kimble found the end zone from a yard out and shortly afterwards Buttles answered back on a one-yard quarterback sneak. Then Kimble got his fourth from 11 yards out to give Canisius a 27-20 halftime lead.

That’s where Smith delivered a message to his roster.

“At halftime we asked them as calmly as can be, ‘Listen guys, everybody's got to buy in. We can’t let them dictate what was going on so you guys need to buy in and let's play as a team,’” Smith said. “’If we execute the way we can, I have no doubt in my mind that we're going to win this game.’ And they did.”

Immediately after Smith’s speech, the Red Raiders responded. A 42-yard touchdown pass from Buttles to Hopwood tied the game early in the third quarter, but Canisius wouldn’t quit. Kimble collected his fifth score of the day by bouncing to the outside after taking a handoff and rumbling in from 10 yards.

That’s where the Red Raiders took over for good. Late in the third quarter, Tyrone Clark found paydirt from five yards away to tie the score at 34. Following a defensive stop, Clark punched it in for his second rushing touchdown of the day from a few yards out midway through the fourth stanza of play to give St. Francis their first lead of the afternoon.

After each team exchanged punts, Canisius had one last opportunity to tie the game. Driving down the field, it came to a third and long situation that was made worse following a delay of game penalty. Following a completed pass that gained some of that yardage back, the Crusaders faced fourth-and-six inside enemy territory with 46 seconds to go but the resulting pass by Matteo Brusco towards the sideline fell incomplete, and St. Francis began to celebrate.

“I think this is everything I envisioned when I transferred here and more,” Buttles said. “I've never been part of an atmosphere like this. Playing at Aquinas in the state semifinal last year, it wasn't close to this. This rivalry and this game was just amazing.”

The Red Raiders will take on either Iona Prep or Monsignor Farrell next week Saturday for the Catholic High School Athletic Association championship, and Smith said if their effort will be anything like what it was today that they’ll be state champions.

“Our object every game is to execute as best as we can and play for each other.,” Smith said. “If we win, we win. If we lose, we lose. But if we play hard, execute and we play for each other, we usually win and hopefully that's what happens.”