BY PAUL LIOTTI
The offense always gets the publicity.
The defense never gets the credit.
That is until it comes down to winning championships.
And then it’s usually the defense that carries the day.
This past weekend, it was the defenses that rose to the occasion all over the Section V as semifinal wins were dominated by the 11 players chasing the ball.
Ten teams punched their tickets to the finals over the weekend, and in eight games, the defenses chased, rattled and rolled their opponents:
- Aquinas and McQuaid in Class AA.
- Irondequoit and Victor in Class A.
- Batavia and Wayne in Class B.
- Letchworth/Warsaw and Attica in Class C.
- Alexander and York/Pavilion in Class D.
Wayne (Class B) and Attica (Class C) didn’t necessarily turn in great defensive performances, but they did when they needed to and are now going to play for a championship this weekend.
Here’s how they did it:
Class AA
Top-seeded Aquinas (8-1) limited a strong No. 4 Pittsford (6-3) offense to just 3 points in its 27-3 victory. In the nightcap, No. 2 McQuaid (7-1) put a beat-down on No. 3 Hilton (7-2) 40-0. Read more.
Class A
No. 4 Victor’s defense opened the semi-finals by pushing top-seeded Canandaigua (7-2) all over the field and limiting the undefeated Braves (8-1) to just 137 yards on 49 snaps in the 27-7 win. Subtracting the 47 yards gained on the Braves’ lone touchdown, Canandaigua gained just 90 yards on 48 plays (1.9 yards per snap). Read more.
No. 2 Irondequoit’s 39-8 win wasn’t as close as the score would indicate, as the Eagles (9-0) from the north held the No. 3 Eagles (7-2) from the city to just 33 yards on 35 offensive snaps (less than 1.0 yard per snap) through the first three quarters. The longest play from scrimmage for East through the first three quarters was an 11-yard run. East finished with 114 total yards from scrimmage, with most of them coming against the IQ reserves in the fourth quarter. Read more.
Class B
Top-seeded Batavia (9-0) shut out fourth-seeded Honeoye Falls-Lima (7-2), a team that had won seven straight games, 29-0.
No. 3 Wayne (8-1) spotted No. 2 seeded Livonia (7-2) a 21-0 second quarter lead, then shut down the rest of the way to win 24-21. The Bulldogs managed less than 200 yards in the contest.
Read more about the Class B action.
Class C
No.3 Letchworth/Warsaw (8-1) faced a huge task trying to stop the high-flying, second-seeded Mustangs of Penn Yan (7-2), which averaged 434 yards and 41.1 points per game. They did, 28-0. The final line for Penn Yan? 109 yards and 0 points. Letsaw has now logged three shutouts and have held seven opponents to one touchdown or less this season. Read more.
No. 1 East Rochester/Gananda (7-2) had rushed for 622 yards and scored 62 points in its quarterfinal win over Waterloo. But No. 5 Attica (7-2) held the Bombers to just 266 yards rushing and 14 points. The Blue Devils scored with less than :30 left for the second week in a row to win a playoff game. Read more.
Class D
Top-seeded Alexander (9-0) and ranked second by the New York State Sportswriters Association, came into the playoffs as the top-scoring offense and the stingiest defense in points allowed. No. 4 Perry/Mount Morris (5-4) found out why in a 45-8 loss.
If there ever was a Cinderella story, this year’s York/Pavilion team just may fit that bill. Seeded 6th, Y/P has upset No. 3 Batavia Notre Dame in the quarters and then pulled the shock of shocks upsetting No. 2 seeded Canisteo-Greenwood (6-3) 12-7 in a defensive showdown. C-G had won six-straight games and had beaten Y/P earlier in the season.
Read more about the Class D action.
Some other noteworthy tidbits from this past weekend:
Round 2: Finals Rematches
Not one, not two, but three Sectional finals feature rematches from games played earlier this season:
- Class AA: Aquinas defeated McQuaid 22-19 in Week 6
- Class A: Irondequoit defeated Victor 28-21 in Week 4
- Class D: Alexander defeated York/Pavilion 50-12 in Week 1
So much for the Power Seeding Points system
One of the reasons the Section made a move to the Power Seeding Points system – albeit not the sole reason – was to set up the playoff system the best way possible to ensure the top 4 teams make the semifinals and the top 2 make the finals.
It worked for the most part in the first round, where in three of the Classes the Nos. 1-4 make the semis, and in two of the classes – Class C and D – three of the four top seeds advanced.
But the model didn’t hold true in the semifinals as there were five upsets in the 10 games and in only one class — Class AA — did the top two seeds hold true to form and make the finals:
- In Class AA, it’s No. 1 Aquinas vs. No. 2 McQuaid
- In Class A, it’s No. 2 Irondequoit vs. No. 4 Victor
- In Class B, it’s No. 1 Batavia vs. No. 3 Wayne
- In Class C, it’s No. 3 Letchworth/Warsaw vs. No. 5 Attica
- In Class D, it’s No. 1 Alexander vs. No. 6 York/Pavilion
How Good is Livingston County-Genesee Region League?
Heading into the semifinals, Class C pitted two teams from the LCAA-GR league against teams from the Finger Lakes East. On paper, the FLE teams were higher seeds. When it was all over, the LCAA-GR showed its domination, winning both games:
Attica beat ER/G 21-14 and L/W shutout Penn Yan 28-0.
New Hotbed for Section V Football?
Football is pretty good in Genesee and Wyoming counties. It’s always been like that. But this year, perhaps even more so as eight of the 11 schools that play football are playing for — or have already won — championships:
- Batavia plays for the Class B title
- Letsaw plays Attica for the Class C title
- Alexander plays York/Pavilion for the Class D title.
- Oakfield-Alabama/Elba has already won the 8-man title
So if you’re counting at home, Genesee County schools – Attica, Batavia, Elba and Oakfield Alabama — made it to the title games, while from Wyoming County, Alexander, Letchworth, Pavilion, and Warsaw will send fans to the their title games.
Only Genesee County schools Notre Dame, Pembroke, and Byron-Bergen are not in the finals.
Additionally, LCAA-GR is guaranteed at least two sectional titles, as all the combatants in the Class C and Class D title games are from that league.
Record Watch – Over
There were two games of note this weekend where milestones would be hit. But thanks to great defensive opponents, the milestones were not achieved:
Penn Yan QB Will Rogers needed one touchdown pass and 320 yards to break the single-season passing marks set by Aquinas’ Jake Zembiec in 2015. But the Letsaw defense completely bottled up Rogers and his receivers, limiting him to just 90 yards passing and of course no touchdowns. Rogers finished his senior season 213-for-293 for 2,802 yards and 37 touchdowns: second in Section V in passing and tied for touchdowns.
In the State passing annals, Rogers’s numbers put him 19th all time in yards, second all time in passing percentage (72 percent) and tied for ninth in touchdowns
In the other Class C game, East Rochester/Gananda’s Jayden Castrechini was going for his second-consecutive 2,000-rushing season, but fell short as Attica bottled him up in the second half. Needing 273 yards to hit 2,000, the senior running back finished with 30 carries and 183 yards to finish his season at 1,910. He did account for 2,082 yards from scrimmage on the year when his passing totals were added in.
For his career, Castrechini finished with 4,323 yards rushing, good for eighth-place all time in the Section V record book.
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