WARHAWKS HANG ON, DEFEAT RED DEVILS

A close matchup between two Class A1 schools saw the West Seneca West Warhawks hold off the Clarence Red Devils 21-14 to pick up their third win of the season.

According to Warhawks coach Mike Vastola, the team’s victory was the result of their courage and ability to stay poised.

“I wasn't so sure it was going to be a win for quite a while,” Vastola said. “We could have put ourselves in a better situation if we executed a little better. But this is a couple of weeks in a row now where our kids have shown their resiliency and their ability to handle adversity as a team and guys stepping up. I couldn't be prouder of the whole team effort tonight.”

After a couple of defensive stands by each team to start the contest, Jarod Freeman took a handoff 13 yards to paydirt with 3:16 left in the first quarter to help the Warhawks strike first. Nearly a full quarter later, West Seneca West increased their lead by two touchdowns on a 23-yard scoring pass from Mason Anderson to Troy Mobley.

Just a couple of minutes later, Clarence got on the scoreboard when a quick pass over the middle from Nathan Arnold found Jace Brinkerhoff – who promptly took it 65 yards to the house. But the Warhawks didn’t blink, as evidenced by two big plays made by Anderson.

On the very next drive, the freshman quarterback making just his third career start found Mobley again for a long gain and then took it in himself on a quarterback keeper for a one-yard score to increase the lead to 21-7 going into halftime.

Vastola noted that the stage didn’t seem to be too big for Anderson.

“Not at all,” Vastola said. “He played on JV last year as an eighth grader. The game's not too big for him, and he’s shown he's got some moxie too. So the future is very bright for him.

“He's a great basketball player too. But all he eats and breathes and sleeps is football. He works really hard and you can tell that he puts a lot of pressure on himself. Sometimes I’ve got to tell him, ‘Hey, forget it. It's okay. You're going to get the next play.’ So it's all about learning from whatever mistakes you make and he'll continue to do so.”

In the second half, each side came up with multiple stops on defense to keep the score as it was. Then when Arnold connected on a long pass to put the Red Devils into scoring position, Clarence capitalized when Ryan Premilewski punched it in from eight yards out with 9:14 remaining in the fourth quarter.

An exchange of punts then saw the Red Devils have an opportunity to drive the ball down the field to tie the score late. But with 2:30 to go, a fumble near midfield by Clarence, the subsequent recovery by the Warhawks and West Seneca West’s ability to kill time allowed them to bleed the clock and escape with a win.

Vastola credited his trenches for coming up big in the crucial moments of the game while also acknowledging that fortune smiled upon his team as well.

“We historically have had trouble against Clarence’s double wing offense,” Vastola said.

“We were also missing our Trench Trophy candidate in Pat Allen this week but we somehow found a way. We got a little lucky too – they put the ball on the ground and we were Johnny on the spot. Sometimes you need a little luck in this game.

“I think we’re older in the right areas. This is a senior line, and these guys were terrible at the beginning of last year, but they’ve gotten better. We have good senior leadership and we have some talent in the right spots. It's nice having these guys and every week we get a little bit better, so it's a fun group to coach.”

Photo Gallery/Feature Image Courtesy of Emily Croisdale/WNYAthletics