West Seneca West Beats Niagara Wheatfield, Clinches Top Seed

In what looked on paper to be a contest between two closely-matched teams, the West Seneca West Indians proved their dominance on Friday night in a 42-0 blowout victory over the visiting Niagara Wheatfield Falcons.

The shutout marked the fourth time this season that the Indians have kept their opponent off the scoreboard.

“I was extremely proud of how the guys played tonight,” head coach Mike Vastola said. “In a lot of ways, it was one of our best games of the year.”

A reason for that was the play of senior Bryan Ball. He may have only finished with 67 total yards on offense, but Ball made big plays when he was needed the most, finishing with two touchdowns on offense while adding two interceptions and a sack on the defensive side of the ball.

“I was just trying to make plays out there,” Ball said. “I know that Niagara Wheatfield is a good team, and I had to go out there and play my game.”

The Indians got on the board early in a big way after senior wide receiver Jake Cooper took a quick pass from Maurice Robertson 72 yards to put the Indians up 7-0.

After recovering a fumble on a high snap just minutes later, Robertson once again found his receiver in the endzone on a 19-yard touchdown pass to Ball. He would catch his second touchdown pass of the game in the 2nd quarter on a four-yard pass just two plays after an interception by Josh Wilson set the Indians up deep in Falcons territory.

With the game starting to get out of hand, Robertson would put the nail in the coffin of Niagara Wheatfield by adding two rushing touchdowns of his own. He finished the game with 235 yards on 8-of-15 passing, but did throw two interceptions.

West running back John Speyer also found the endzone once and finished with 60 yards rushing.

It was a game where all of West Seneca West’s big guns on offense got involved, and showed any future opponent just how versatile the Indians can be. The Indians outgained the Falcons 378-125 on offense while forcing five turnovers on defense.

It was a case of whatever the Falcons tried to do, the Indians had an answer for it.

“We’ve got a lot of weapons,” Ball said. “We can do a lot with the ball and spread it around evenly. It’s a good thing to have on a team: a lot of weapons to use.”

Robertson added that it’s all because of how the team practices that leads the depth of the roster on game day.

“We go against these great players every day,” he said. “The practices we have make us great.”

The win clinched the A1 Division title for the Indians, but, more than that, also locked down the number one seed in the upcoming Class A playoffs. Before they get to the postseason, however, West faces their toughest battle of the season when they travel crosstown for their annual matchup against West Seneca East in a battle between 6-0 schools.