Pickin' Splinters

Rochester's Independent Sports Source

Dear to Snow: Schroeder storms past Pittsford

by Leave a Comment

Travis Dear threw for three touchdowns including the winning score on a fourth down play.

By PAUL GOTHAM

PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Coming off its first loss of the season, the Webster Schroeder football team had anything but a cohesive week of practice.

Weather impacted two different days. Monday’s session was cancelled because of thunder and lightning. Thunder forced the Warriors to shorten Thursday’s practice with the offense running through its game plan in the school cafeteria.

Injuries also affected Warriors starting quarterback, Travis Dear, who spent his time over the four practices handing the ball off to rushers rather than looking to build upon his 410-yard passing performance from last week.

Those struggles spilled over into the first half of Friday’s meeting with Pittsford.

Turnovers on three straight possessions including back-to-back plays from scrimmage resulted in a 14-0 hole.

When it was finished, though, the Warriors celebrated with their fans in the east end zone.

Dear threw for 244 yards on 13-of-24 passing. The senior saved his best for last hooking up with his favorite target on a fourth-and-long play for the winning touchdown.

“A little banged up this week, just had to ice bumps and bruises and get ready for this game,” Dear said. “Had to get ready and come out today. We came out pretty well.”

With the clock winding down and the ball deep in Pittsford territory, Dear looked to Victor Snow on fourth down with eight yards to go from the 27-yard line.

The result was magic.

“I threw it to this kid because he makes plays,” Dear said motioning with his thumb to his teammate. “He’s crazy. It’s crazy. I knew I could throw it up to him, and he’d make a play. That’s what happened. I’m so glad he did.”

Snow out dueled double coverage and stripped the ball from a Pittsford defender for the winning touchdown.

“I just saw the ball; it was big,” Snow explained. “I had to make a play. Big-time players make big-time plays. I just had to go and get it. If I didn’t go and get it, it was going to be a pick. Just had to be the better guy.”

The touchdown capped a 10-play drive that started from the Schroeder 32-yard line.

“Basically, the kid made a play,” Schroeder head coach Michael Stumpf stated. “‘Trav’ threw him a ball out there, and Vic, little guy that he is, he went up and caught it over two guys. That’s a hell of a play.”

A timeout produced an incomplete pass on the previous play. Then out of a shotgun formation, Dear dropped four steps and hit Snow on a timing route in the right corner of the end zone.

“Just wanted to throw it to one of our play makers and have him make a play,” Stumpf said of Snow. “Varsity Media does Top 5 plays and it seems like he’s in every week. If he’s not in the Top 5 this week, I can’t even imagine how good the plays are going to be.”

But the point-after-attempt failed, and Pittsford mounted one last drive.

Junior quarterback Daniel Lawther hit Lavontae Bonds on a 29-yard pass completion. Two plays later including a penalty on the offense, Lawther connected with Isaiah Cotton and Pittsford had the ball on the Schroeder 33. Thomas Birmingham hauled in a pass for a first down at the 22-yard line.

Schroeder’s Ethan Fame intercepted the final pass on the four-yard line and went the length of the field as time expired.

“It feels really good,” Stumpf said. We haven’t beaten these guys in I can’t remember how long. They’ve had our number. I thought last year we should have beat ‘em here and we left some points on the field, and they wound up winning. This was really good especially after last week. I think it was a letdown. We didn’t play very well, and we lost.”

Max Murphy recovered a fumble near the 50-yard line and scampered the length of the field to give Pittsford a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. Schroeder fumbled on the first play from scrimmage after the kickoff. Five plays later, Murphy took a direct snap and pounded it in from three yards out for a 14-0 Pittsford lead.

“These kids faced a lot of adversity this week,” Stumpf said of his team. “They answered the bell for sure. Even in the first half, a lot of adversity and they answered the bell. That just shows how tough these kids are.”

Two possessions later, Schroeder cut the deficit in half. Dear hit Jack VonAhnen on a 44-yard catch-and-run play for a touchdown.

The Warriors forced a fumble on the first play from scrimmage of the second half. Eight plays later, Kaden Leonard found the end zone and the Warriors tied the game at 14.

Pittsford used seven plays to push the ball deep into the Schroeder end, but the Warriors defense held and they took over on downs. After no gain on a rush, Dear hit VonAhnen for an 87-yard strike.

“He gave me a deep, post run,” VonAhnen noted. “I just ran it as hard as I could. I knew once I got that inside release that I was going to keep going. Travis gave me a ball I could go and get.”

Schroeder did not trail again.

“Beating them is huge; it’s really huge,” VonAhnen said.

To go with the two touchdown catches, VonAhnen added a 12-yard grab on a third down play to keep the winning drive alive. He also had an interception.

Snow scored three touchdowns last week in Schroder’s 35-28 loss to Rush-Henrietta.

Ryan Sampson led Pittsford’s defense with 21 tackles. Nick Sanko had 18 tackles.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *