A spot in the New York State semifinals is up for grabs when Section V and Section VI meet at the College at Brockport this upcoming weekend for the Football Far West Regionals. Here’s the breakdown:
WESTERN NEW YORK MARITIME/HEALTH SCIENCES FALCONS (9-1) vs. LIVONIA BULLDOGS (8-2)
How they arrived here: Top-seeded Maritime (No. 12 NYSSWA) opened sectionals with a 36-14 win over Iroquois. Maritime continued with a 42-7 victory over Pioneer and a 34-20 triumph over Albion in the finals.
Livonia (No. 15 NYSSWA) downed No. 5 Geneva, 39-28, in the quarterfinals before shutting out UPrep (27-0) and Honeoye Falls-Lima (12-0) to win their first sectional title since 1993 when they won back-to-back class B championships.
Points scored per game: Maritime (31.4), Livonia (32.5)
Points allowed per game: Maritime (13.2), Livonia (15.4)
Players to watch: Maritime – Mekhi Bridgers Jr. RB, LB 108 tackles; Addison Copeland So. WR, SS 290 rushing yards, 171 receiving yards, 5 touchdowns, 34 tackles; Maurice Vaughn Jr. RB, DT 932 rushing yards, 7 touchdowns, 21 tackles; Jion Washington Sr. RB, SS 644 passing yards, 121 rushing yards, 10 touchdowns
Livonia – Alex Minnehan Jr. QB, DB 730 rushing yards, 389 passing yards, 16 touchdowns, 49 tackles, 8 interceptions; Micah Ross Sr. WR, LB 131 receiving yards, 2 touchdowns, 19 tackles
Coaches: Ty Parker (Maritime), John Gammon (Livonia)
What they’re saying: Gammon – “Maritime Prep is a very athletic team with excellent team speed. It’ll be very important to stick to our style of play to shorten the game and limit their chances of scoring. We need to dominate the line of scrimmage and pound the ball on the ground like we have in recent weeks.”
“If we continue to run as well as we have, limit our penalties and turnovers, we should be able to eat up the lock and put the ball in the end zone. Defensively, we need to continue to take away the big plays like we have throughout sectionals, play a bend-but-don’t-break style that requires teams to have 12-or-more play drives and put pressure on them not to make mistakes along the way.”
“If we force our style of play on both sides of the ball, I like our chances of coming out on top.”
What’s at stake: A spot in the NYS Class B semifinals against the winner of Solvay (III) vs. Chenango Forks (IV).
A 3:15 p.m. kickoff is scheduled Saturday afternoon at the College at Brockport.
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