The Niagara Falls Wolverines and the Lockport Lions came into Saturday with very different week 1 experiences. The Wolverines came back from a 14-0 deficit at halftime to beat McKinley. The Lions were beat down by the Canisius Crusaders, losing 60-6. In the end, the two teams ended up on the same side of the scoreboard as they were last week, as Niagara Falls won 26-14.
The game started off with a big kickoff return by Kyle Brown who brought the ball to midfield for Lockport. The Lions drove down the field inside the 10-yard line but could not punch it in as the Wolverine defense made a stop at the goal line. On the ensuing drive, Niagara Falls fumbled the ball and managed to recover it. However, on the very next play QB Jamir Isom was hit and fumbled the ball once again. This time it was recovered by Lockport in the end zone for a touchdown to give them a 6-0 lead. As the quarter was winding down, the Wolverines were driving and Isom found his receiver Rodney Barnes flying past the coverage for a touchdown pass and catch, giving the Falls a 7-6 lead at the end of the quarter.
In the middle of the 2nd quarter, the Wolverines offense was driving down the field and Isom found Barnes again streaking down the sideline. This gave the Falls the 14-6 lead at halftime. The Lockport offense had a rhythm throughout the game, but could not convert as they got inside the red zone. At the end of the half, the mental errors for Niagara Falls started once again. 3 penalties in a row were called on their offense as they were getting inside the red zone.
The 3rd quarter started the same way as the game started and the 1st half ended, with Niagara Falls mental errors. The Wolverines had a few runs negated with holding calls, some personal fouls and a few fumbles. A Haseen Pruitt fumble rolled liked a routine ground ball to the shortstop right to Lockport’s Tavon Chambers who picked it up and returned it 65 yards for a touchdown to tie the game for Lockport. Later in the 3rd, the Falls got the lead back as Priutt ran it in from 2 yards back, making the score 20-14.
The Lions were given more opportunities as the Falls continued to commit penalties and fumble the football but Lockport could not convert. The Wolverines add one more score as Delazjhajuan “Dee” Hunt caught a pass from Isom to put the game away.
“I think our defense is outstanding, they only gave up 2 points today”, said Niagara Falls Head Coach Don Bass. The Head Coach was certainly not happy with the mental errors but admits they have a lot of youth “We’re a very young team, we’ve got to learn to play with cool heads.”
QB Jhamir Isom threw 3 touchdowns in the game, but Isom knows that it wasn’t just him who won the game, “It was a team win, (our line) was blocking, our receivers ran good routes” said the sophomore.
In the loss Lockport Head Coach Matt Vermette thought his team left a lot on the field, “We didn’t finish the drives we needed to, we didn’t get off the field on 3rd and 4th down when we needed it” said coach, “we could’ve come away with a victory here today”.
Next week Niagara Falls (2-0) will host Kenmore West (1-1) on Saturday. Lockport (0-2) will welcome the Clarence Red Devils (2-0) to town on Saturday.
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