BY PAUL LIOTTI
CLARENCE — If there was any debate on who is the best running back in Section V this season — or for that matter, the state — Batavia’s Ray Leach ended all discussion.
Running behind a confident offensive line, the punishing senior broke multiple state tournament records en route to a convincing 56-28 victory over Cheektowaga in the Class B Far West Regional Saturday night.
Leach shattered single-game marks for:
- most yards rushing (417)
- most total yards (450)
- most rushing touchdowns scored (8)
- most total touchdowns scored (8)
- most points scored (50)
All these records are not just for Class B, but all classifications.
“I know there’s a debate going on in Rochester about who is the best running back in the area, but after tonight, the debate should be over,” Batavia coach Brennan Briggs said of his running back, who also had 344 yards and six touchdowns in the Section V title game last week against Wayne. “This kid plays defense, offense, returns kicks, he doesn’t leave the football field.”
His rushing yards broke the Hornell’s Austin Dwyer’s mark of 399 set in 2009. The eight touchdowns bested both marks for rushing and total touchdowns set in 2004 by Iroquois running back Andy Wolf, and his total yards was 43 more than Edgemont’s Drew Nader had in 1998. The 50 points scored is also considered to be a record.
The herculean effort will go down in the annals of the state, but the larger impact it had was vaulting the Blue Devils into the state semifinals, something that has eluded Batavia for a number of years in recent memory.
This was the fourth time the Blue Devils (11-0/No. 4 NYSSWA) advanced to this Far West Regional, only to be turned away. In 2014 and 2015 Cheektowaga sent Batavia home and in 2016 Dunkirk ended the Blue Devils’ season in. So by getting past the Warriors Saturday night — the third time being the charm — the Blue Devils are now in uncharted territory and will play in its program-record 12th game of the season.
“This win means a lot for us and our program,” Leach said, who now has 2,131 yards rushing this season and 38 total touchdowns. “We needed to come out here and show them that we could play with them. The coaches gave us the message this week that we can play with anyone and if we play Batavia football we will be able to play with them. And we did.”
With the win, the Blue Devils advance to the state semifinals against Skaneateles (III) who defeated Chenango Forks (IV) 27-26 Saturday night. Skaneateles is 11-0 and ranked No. 2 in the state by the New York State Sportswriters Association. The semifinals will be played at 3 pm Saturday at Union-Endicott, near Binghamton. If Batavia gets past that game, the state title game will be played at 12 pm November 24 in the Carrier Dome.
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The game was never in doubt by the time the first quarter was midway completed. After returning the game’s opening kickoff 33 yards, he scored on a 34-yard run on the second play from scrimmage and followed that up with an 11-yard scamper to cap the Blue Devils’ third offensive possession. With that run he had tallied 135 yards on just seven carries and the game was only 8 minutes old.
And it wasn’t like Cheektowaga (9-2/No. 10 NYSSWA) was not ready for Leach. Last week against Pioneer, the Warriors held Pioneer running back Mike Rigerman, who had gained more than 2,000 yards rushing heading into the Section VI finale, to just 37 yards on 17 carries.
But Leach runs with power, deftness and speed. Once his line opened the hole for him, he usually broke the first tackle, darting through the linebackers, picking his cuts with aplomb, and then simply outracing the speedy Warrior secondary to paydirt. Of his 31 rushes in the game, 11 were 20 yards or more.
But that is also a tribute to his workhorse offensive line, which opened up gaping holes all night long.
“His line is creating holes for him for and they are stalk blocking for him downfield,” Briggs said. “Our receivers also do a great job blocking downfield.”
After taking the 14-0 lead with 3:50 left in the third, Batavia’s defense held the Warriors in check, frustrating the offensive game plan and thwarting every play Cheektowaga ran. By the end of the first quarter, the Warriors could only must 27 yards total offense — on one pass completion — while logging zero yards on 8 carries.
And while the defense was doing its job, the Blue Devils salted away the game in the first minute of second quarter. That’s when Leach scored from 50 yards out with 11:35 and, on the ensuing kickoff, Taiyo Iburi‐Bethel forced a fumble, which led to an easy three yard run by Leach on the very next play. With 11:16 left in second quarter the Blue Devils were up 27-0 and the game was essentially decided.
“My line opened up great holes and all I had to do was hit them and things worked out,” Leach said. “We all performed how we were supposed to.”
Cheektowaga tried to answer on its next series and did advance to the Blue Devil 12-yard line, but facing fourth down, Keshone Beal’s pass into the end zone was batted away by, you guessed it, Leach. This was after defensive back Zack Anderson made a number of plays defending passes into the end zone.
While score would seem as if Cheektowaga was outclassed, don’t be misled: The Warriors came into the game on a roll. In their previous 10 games this season, the Warriors logged five shutouts and in their other nine games only allowed 28 total points. The only blip on the season was a 33-14 loss to Pioneer in Week 4. Not only that, but Cheektowaga had won four of the last five Section VI Class B titles and had compiled a 60-11 record over the last seven years.
Which made Batavia’s dismantling of Cheektowaga so impressive.
The onslaught continued midway through the second quarter as Leach scored from 33 yards out to make the score 34-0 and then for good measure, was credited with a safety on the next possession when he tackled Jason Solamon on an ill-advised inside handoff out of the shotgun formation with the ball at the 1 yard line.
Cheektowaga did get on the board on the last play of the first half when Beal hit Jihad Butler from eight yards out to cut the lead to 36-8 heading into intermission.
In the first half, the Warriors gained just 156 yards offense, but 66 came on their last drive of the second quarter.
“Our mentality was to just get to (Beal) as much as we can,” said linebacker Josh Barber. “Defensively, our game plan was to let them get to Ray, Alex (Rood) and I and we will take it from there.”
Barber is part of a starting linebacker crew that has been playing football together since they were in grade school. Rood, Leach and Barber make up that crew, which is the heart and soul of the defense. Rood and Leach each finished with five tackles and Barber four. All have a hand in the offense as well, as Rood is Leach’s lead blocker from his running back spot and Barber blows open the holes from his offensive line position.
Offensively, the Blue Devils continued the domination in the second half, scoring on its first three possessions on Leach runs of one, 31 and 23 yards. In between, though, the Warriors played with pride, scoring on an 89-yard kickoff return by Fred Parsons, and two scoring runs by Beal of one and 10 yards.
Cheektowaga finished the game with 289 total yards of offense, 120 on the ground and 169 through the air.
Ethan Biscaro, who doubles as the Blue Devils quarterback, picked off his Section V-leading 11th pass of the season midway through the fourth quarter.
The Blue Devils countered with 459 yards of offense – all on the ground.
“I’m just ecstatic for this group of guys,” Briggs said. “They put in serious time to get better, went through some hardships and come ready to work every single day.”
Batavia | 14 | 22 | 13 | 7 | 56 | ||
Cheek | 0 | 8 | 14 | 6 | 28 | ||
Scoring | |||||||
Batavia | Ray Leach 34 run (Ben Paserk kick) | ||||||
Batavia | Ray Leach 11 run (Ben Paserk kick) | ||||||
Batavia | Ray Leach 50 run (kick failed) | ||||||
Batavia | Ray Leach 3 run (Ben Paserk kick) | ||||||
Batavia | Ray Leach 33 run (Ben Paserk kick) | ||||||
Batavia | Jason Solamon tackled in end zone by Ray Leach | ||||||
Cheek | Jihad Butler 8 pass from Keshone Beal (Jason Solaman run) | ||||||
Batavia | Ray Leach 1 run (Ben Paserk kick) | ||||||
Cheek | Fred Parsons 88 kickoff return (pass failed) | ||||||
Batavia | Ray Leach 31 run (kick failed) | ||||||
Cheek | Keshone Beal 10 run (Tamell Pass from Keshone Beal) | ||||||
Batavia | Ray Leach 23 run (Ben Paserk kick) | ||||||
Cheek | Keshone Beal 1 run (run failed) | ||||||
Rushing | |||||||
Batavia | Ray Leach 31-417, Ethan Biscaro 3-35, Taiyo Iburi-Bethel 1-16, Josh Barber 2-5, Alex Rood 7-(-14) | ||||||
Passing | |||||||
Batavia | Ethan Biscaro 0-2-0-1 | ||||||
Receiving | |||||||
Batavia | none |
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