BY PAUL LIOTTI
BROCKPORT – Going into the season, every coach in the Monroe County noted THE player to watch in their league was Irondequoit’s Freddy June Jr.
Friday night, June showed just why he is the most dangerous player in Section V.
His five-yard, tackle-breaking, determined touchdown run with :03 left in the game broke a tie and pushed top-seeded Irondequoit to a thrilling, come-from-behind 21-14 win over fourth-seeded Victor in the Class A finals at SUNY Brockport.
June’s heroics capped an 87-yard drive that started with just 1:50 left in the game. Dynamic running back Jaden Turner’s dazzling 45-yard run to start the drive put the ball in Victor’s territory and fans on both sides knew the game was far from over.
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The Eagles (10-0, No. 4 NYSSWA) then advanced to the 23-yard line, but faced third-and-three. That’s when June scampered 13 yards on a quarterback draw giving IQ a first-and-goal. The Blue Devil defense stiffened and another third down stared at the Eagles when coach Dan Ficher called time out with :09 left.
There was little doubt in the sideline huddle in whose hands the ball would end up in on the final fateful play.
“Absolutely not, there was no question in my mind who was going to get the ball (on that last play),” Fichter said. “Freddy came over to us before that last play and told us ‘Coach, there’s no way I don’t score.’ And I tell you what, five guys had hands on him and he still scored. That’s Freddy June.”
The play was designed to go left, but the Blue Devils slammed that hole shut. So June planted his foot, cut right and broke free of four would-be tacklers before bowling over the final defender at the goal line. And those broken tackles weren’t arm-tackles: they were bone-crunching licks that he simply powered through.
“When the play was called I was determined. I said before the game I wasn’t going to leave here without this brick (Section V trophy),” said June, the game’s Most Valuable Player. “I was in a drought in the first half and had to be better in the second half.”
With the win, Irondequoit advances to the state quarterfinals against West Seneca East (VI) , which upset West Seneca West, the state’s top-ranked team and defending state Class A champion on Thursday, 20-13. The regional contest will be played at 8 pm next Friday at Clarence High School outside Buffalo.
June’s game-winning touchdown capped a 14-point fourth quarter that gave the Eagles the come-from-behind win. June’s 10-yard run – and subsequent conversion run – in the opening minute of the final quarter pulled the Eagles into a 14-14 tie.
The Eagles didn’t have a very good statistical game by their own high standards, but it wasn’t due to poor play, it was due to the Victor game plan to chew up clock and keep them off the field.
Reminiscent of what the New York Giants did to the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV, the Blue Devils (7-2/No. 16 NYSSWA) limited an explosive Irondequoit squad’s chances to beat them, controlling the clock the entire game. By the end of the game, Victor controlled the ball for 31:19 seconds to IQ’s 16:41. In the first half alone, Irondequoit could only must 16 offensive plays and had the ball just 5:44 in three drives.
“Our game plan was to limit (June’s) touches and but any time you give him a chance he can hurt you and he did,” Victor coach Geoff Mandile said. “I don’t know what the final stats are, but for three quarters we held them to six points and that says something.”
After the Eagles drew first blood with their longest drive of the game on a nifty throwback touchdown pass from June to Turner, the Blue Devils stormed back to take a 7-6 lead when Victor receiver Kordell Jackson laid out in the end zone to reel in James Knapp’s 24 yard touchdown pass.
Victor would not let the Eagles offense on the field after that, so the Eagles turned to their senior-laden defense to keep them in the game.
“Victor is one of the best-coached teams in Section V and they had a great defensive game plan tonight and sometimes your plans don’t work out and you have to go to Plan B,” Fichter said, which meant relying on his defense to keep the Eagles in the game until the offense could get traction.
Not once, but twice in the second quarter the defense held Victor inside the five yard line. With Victor knocking at the door at the two yard line, the Eagle front line stopped Victor cold on fourth down at the two. Then just before halftime, they rose up again to stop Victor at the four yard line, forcing a 21-yard field goal, which was missed as time expired in the half. It was the second missed field goal of the game for Victor.
“We left some points on the board in the first half and we should have had more of a lead,” Mandile said. “I told the kids at halftime that we still had the (7-6) lead and continue playing the way we were.”
While the win was sweet for the Eagles, who won its fifth Sectional title and first since 2014, it was made even sweeter since Irondequoit was thumped in the Class A finals last year 40-19 by Wilson.
“Everything happens for a reason, like the loss last year,” said Turner, who won the game’s Top Offensive Player Award. “It was meant be and that’s what happened tonight.”
“This win puts us on the map, it really does,” Ficher said. “But it’s fitting for this team; they are great human beings. I want my son to be around them because of the type of character these kids have.”
“This wins so much to us. Last year we came up short (in the finals) and this year we went all the way through and will keep playing,” June said.
June finished the night with 92 yards on 21 carries and completed eight-of-19 passes for 131 yards. Turner finished the game with 85 yards rushing and 53 yards receiving on only 14 touches.
In a losing cause, Victor’s ground game was led by Rushawn Baker’s 20-carry, 103-yard performance. Joey Pezzimenti finished with a hard-earned 24 carries for 77 yards.
It was the second time this season Irondequoit knocked off Victor, having defeated the Blue Devils 28-21 in Week 4.
| Victor | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 14 | ||
| IQ | 6 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 21 | ||
| Scoring | |||||||
| IQ | Jaden Turner 25 pass from Freddy June Jr (run failed) | ||||||
| Victor | Kordell Jackson 24 pass from James Knapp (Sam Castiglia kick) | ||||||
| Victor | Rushawn Baker 7 run (Sam Castiglia kick) | ||||||
| IQ | Freddy June Jr 10 run (June run) | ||||||
| IQ | Freddy June Jr 5 run (Nicholas Chodak kick) | ||||||
| Rushing | |||||||
| Victor | Rushawn Baker 20-103, Joey Pezzimenti 24-77, Camden Hay 4-20, Kordell Jackson 3-15, James Knapp 2-10, Joseph Theede 2-4, | ||||||
| IQ | Freddy June Jr 21-92, Jaden Turner 11-85 | ||||||
| Passing | |||||||
| Victor | James Knapp 6-9-79-1-0 | ||||||
| IQ | Freddy June Jr 8-19-131-1-2 | ||||||
| Receiving | |||||||
| Victor | Camden Hay 1-21, Jacob Cole‐Allen 2-20, Kordell Jackson 2-20, Sutton Boland 1-18 | ||||||
| IQ | Jaden Turner 3-53, Quinn Simonson 3-42, Patrick Thomas IV 2-36, | ||||||
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