BY PAUL LIOTTI
HONEOYE FALLS — What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?
The side with the salty defense usually wins.
And that what happened Saturday night in Honeoye Falls, when No.3 Letchworth/Warsaw – owners of one of the section’s staunchest defenses – shut down one of its most prolific offenses and sent No.2 seed Penn Yan home in a 28-0 shutout in second Class C semifinal on a cold rainy night.
Letchworth Warsaw (8-1/No. 20 NYSSWA) dominated on both sides of the ball.
On defense, it made life miserable for record-setting quarterback Will Rogers and took away nearly every one of the Mustangs’ go-to plays.
On offense, Letsaw took advantage when things were presented and didn’t make mistakes Penn Yan (7-2/No. 16 NYSSWA) could capitalize on.
It also didn’t hurt L/W to put a little English on their game.
Dalton English, that is.
English, a junior captain who plays running back, linebacker, returns kicks, punts and kicks, seemed to be all over the field on every play. He rushed for 78 yards on 10 carries, kicked two extra points, and drove a 59-yard punt that was downed at 11 yard line early in the second quarter.
But it was his ball-hawking defense in the secondary that changed the game, intercepting Rogers two times to snuff out drives.
“Our game plan was to protect the deep ball because we knew they were going to throw even in the bad conditions,” English said. “We read everything they did. But (Penn Yan) is a good football team and we needed to be sharp.”
Rogers, who came into the game needing 320 yards and one touchdown to break both Section V marks, was running for his life the entire game. He was harassed into completing just 17-of-31 passes for 88 yards, 251 yards under his season average of 339 per game.
The Letsaw defense only allowed 121 yards, which was over 300 yards less than Penn Yan’s 434 yard per game average.
“We absolutely executed the game plan like we wanted to,” L/W coach Justin Mann said. “We didn’t want to get beat deep. We had to scheme a little differently because we don’t see that (spread) formation, but really it came down to playing fundamental football and do our jobs.”
Letsaw struck first, using up 6:05 seconds to travel 71 yards in 13 plays – all on the ground – before Tom Standera took it in from four yards out to put L/W up 6-0 with 1:44 left in the first.
The L/W then put points on the board after English’s 59-yard punt. On second down at the nine, Rogers dropped back and rolled out and when he turned the entire front line of L/W was in his face. Having nowhere to turn, Adrian Figoura finished him off by sacking him deep in the end zone for a safety to make it 8-0.Three minutes later Letsaw scored on a six-play 32 yard drive when Sam Wolf scored from five yards out. The short drive was set up when the Penn Yan punter kneeled to field a low snap and down by rule at that point.
“We were a little nervous coming into the game today,” Figoura said. “But all the nerves were gone after the first series. After that we just kept pounding the rock as coach would say.”
L/W was up 14-0 to start the third and after holding Penn Yan to punt on its first possession, English ignited the next drive by fielding the punt inside his five yard line, returning it for positive yardage, then on the first play ripped off a 32-yard run before hitting the hole for 14 more yards two plays later. That set up Figoura’s blast up the middle for 31 yards to make the score 21-0 with 8:30 left in the third.
English picked off Rogers on the next series, and L/W made it 28-0 early in the fourth when Josh Andrews bolted in from two yards out to make it 28-0. The only chance Penn Yan had of avoiding the shutout ended when English outmuscled the PY receiver for the ball in the end zone for his second interception, effectively sealing the game with 6:00 left.
“They simply played more physically than we did tonight,” Penn Yan coach Tim McBride said. “They played low, they played hard and played to the whistle more than we did. We just couldn’t get them off the field. We’d hold them on first and second downs and they would get the first down. In games like this you just can’t let that happen.”
Letsaw advances to the Class C final against fellow Livingston County league rival Attica, which upset No. 1 East Rochester/Gananda 21-14.
The final will be played at 5 pm Saturday at St. John Fisher College.
LW 6 8 7 7 28
PY 0 0 0 0 0
LW Tom Standera 5 run (kick failed)
LW Safety Penn Yan QB sacked in zone
LW Sam Wolf 5 run (run failed)
LW Adrian Figoura 31 run (Dalton English kick)
LW Josh Andrews 2 run (Dalton English kick)
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