GREECE – Defense wins championships and if Saturday afternoon was any indication, the Irondequoit Eagles put Class A on notice in a convincing 42-7 rout of Greece Athena
Led by the outside dominance of senior defensive end Cameron Martin and hole plugger senior captain Nick Serce, the Eagles held the Trojans to just 42 yards offense through three periods and watched as their offensive mates dissected the Trojan defense all afternoon. The 42 yards included a -11 yards on the ground.
Through the first three stanzas, Irondequoit’s front seven stopped 12 of Athena’s 28 offensive plays at or behind the line of scrimmage.
“Our goal each week is to get better. Last week we won a hard-fought game (vs. Eastridge) but we knew we needed to get better in every facet of the game,” IHS Coach Dan Ficher said. “The kids practiced unbelievably well this week in practice and I think it shows: When we practice hard we play well, just like it did today.”
Martin seemed to anticipate the snap count on every play, often ending up in the backfield just as Athena QB Nate Bogoniewski was ready to hand off. With an explosive first step, the offensive tackle had a difficult time getting in front of Martin to set the block.
“I watch the ball most of the time but today I was able to pick up on their cadence and anticipate the snap,” Martin said. “When the switched a lot of their blocking to my side, it allowed the rest of the defense to make plays.”
And the defense was up to the challenge, especially Serce who record two sacks and was in on numerous stops of zero or negative yardage.
One play summed up Athena’s long afternoon late in the 2nd quarter:
Facing 2nd and 15 from their own 35, the handoff exchange between Bogoniewski and Lorcen Miller never happened because Martin anticipated the snap so effectively, he disrupted the handoff and Athena fumbled the ball away. Two plays later, Irondequoit scored on a 19-yard pass from Freddy June Jr. to Quinn Simeson putting the game out of reach at 28-0.
“Cameron played as good as I have seen a defensive end play in a long time,” IHS Coach Dan Ficher said. “Cameron’s got a great motor…it’s a hundred miles an hour every time. He’s starting to understand what Coach (Chris) Battaglia expects him to do.”
What Battaglia and the Eagle staff wants their players to do is be unselfish on the defensive side of the ball, working specific techniques to either string the play laterally to the sideline or force runners inside into the teeth of the staunch defense.
Highly touted Eagle QB Freddy June Jr accounted for 4 touchdowns in the game – 2 by land, 2 by airs. His first score came with 3:48 left in the first quarter when he scampered in from 4 yards out with 3:48 left in the first to put IHS up 7-0.
After the ensuing Athena drive stalled, June engineered a 2-play 49-yard drive, the last 32 coming on a swing pass completion to Patrick Thomas IV who caught the ball at the 28 and sped up the sideline to pay dirt with :56 left in the quarter.
Irondequoit waited until late in the half to put three quick scores on the board to take a 35-0 lead into halftime.
Trailing 14-0, Athena fumbled a punt at its own 14-yard line, and June took advantage by racing 8 yards untouched for the score with 2:59 left. Then Martin blew up the handoff exchange which led to the 19-yard TD pass to Simeson with 2:49 left. Exactly 1 minute later, after a 3-and-out series by the Trojans, June lofted a jump ball pass from 25 yards out to Simeson who out bodied the defender to haul in the touchdown.
Irondequoit closed out its scoring early in the fourth on a 4-yard run by Ryan DeRosa, and Nicholas Chodak kicked his 6th extra point of the afternoon to put the Eagles up 42-0.
Athena finally salvaged their afternoon with a 72-yard late in the game – all on the ground – as Kendale Williams toted the ball 6 times for all 72 yards, including a 15-yard run to the end zone with 3:26 left in the game to avoid the shutout.
Thanks to that last drive, Athena finished on the plus-side of the yardage marker: finishing with 60 yards rushing and 110 yards passing. Irondequoit, meanwhile, tallied a balanced 303 yards with 157 through the air and 146 on the ground. Jaden Turner led the ground assault with 11 carries for 54 yards and Thomas was the game’s leading receiver with 3 carries for 71 yards. June finished 8-14.
Williams was the game’s leading rusher with 60 yards on 9 carries. The Trojans’ Johnny Salone logged four catches for 61 yards, Bogoniewski finished 10-22 for 110 yards and an interception.
IRONDEQUOIT 42
GREECE ATHENA 7
IQ 14 21 0 7 42
GA 0 0 0 7 7
Scoring
IQ Freddy June Jr 8 run (Nicholas Chodak kick)
IQ Patrick Thomas IV 32 pass from Freddy June Jr (Nicholas Chodak kick)
IQ Freddy June Jr 1 run (Nicholas Chodak kick)
IQ Quinn Simeson 19 pass from Freddy June Jr (Nicholas Chodak kick)
IQ Quinn Simeson 25 pass from Freddy June Jr (Nicholas Chodak kick)
IQ Ryan DeRosa 4 run (Nicholas Chodak kick)
GA Kendale Williams 15 run (Jake Zielinski kick)
Rushing
Q: Jaden Turner 11-54, Ryan DeRosa 7-47, Kendale Williams 8-37, Johnny Lopez 2-15, Kelvin Reaves 1-4, Jayden White 1-1, Owen Brown 1-(-1)
GA: Kendale Williams 9-60, Sam Sheldon 1-12, Nate Bogoniewski 9-3, Charles Kamarac1-(-2), Tahjmir Kearse 1-(-3), Lorcen Miller 7-(-10)
Passing
IQ: Freddy June Jr 8-14-146-2-1
GA: Nate Bogoniewski 10-22-110-0-1
Receiving
IQ: Patrick Thomas IV 3-71, Quinn Simenson 2-25, Freddy June Jr 1-25, Connor Shafer 1-18, Jaden Turner 1-7
GA: Johnny Salone 4-61, Kelvin Reaves 3-18, Sam Sheldon 1-18, Tahjmir Kearse 1-15, Lorcen Miller 1-(-2)
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