By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
Scan the past champions of Section V high school football and you’ll see a lot of the same schools, like Aquinas, Canandaigua, Fairport, Caledonia-Mumford and LeRoy.
One name you won’t find: Spencerport.
But with the 2021 fall season getting underway on Friday night, the Rangers showed they are poised to make a run at the elusive title.
The deception of Spencerport’s Wing-T offense befuddled Greece Olympia/Odyssey defenders while the Rangers swarming, get-after-it defense dominated from start to finish in a 47-8 victory at Spencerport High School.
“We want to win a championship, that’s everyone’s goal, and it motivates everyone,” junior quarterback/defensive back Cameron Mesh said.
Mesh rushed for three touchdowns – Spencerport’s first, fourth and fifth – as the Rangers opened a 33-0 halftime lead and cruised to the victory by pounding the ball down after down, possession after possession.
“He’s as good as the come,” Spencerport coach Joe Dowd said.
Brenton Sheffield, Taron Beachum, Jahyleen Quick and Joe Marcello also scored rushing touchdowns.
“Our line played great,” Mesh said. “Every run, the hole was huge.”
This was far more than just an offensive show, however. The Rangers didn’t allow Olympia/Odyssey to cross midfield until the fourth possession, and the only touchdown came with 6:14 remaining in the game, after the score had ballooned to 47-0.
While the Wing-T confounds opponents, the Rangers defensive unit knows a little about stopping an offense. In the 2020-21 season played in the spring, Spencerport posted two shutouts and never gave up more than one touchdown until a 29-10 sectional loss to Canandaigua.
“We try to be a well-rounded football team,” Dowd said. “Our goal is to win a championship at some point, and you can’t win if you’re one-dimensional.”
It’s the way Spencerport plays defense under coordinator Joe Burns that has led to recent success.
“For 20 years of my career, we were too conservative on defense,” Dowd said. “Now we’re aggressive. This is more of an attacking defense.”
Olympia/Odyssey found that out on the first drive of the game. Running back DeNiero Smith was stopped at the line of scrimmage on first down, quarterback Zymier Jackson was sacked by Mesh and Quick for a 10-yard loss on second down, passing-rushing pressure led to an incomplete pass on third down, and all of a sudden Olympia/Odyssey was punting from its 1 yard line.
Set up with great field position on the Olympia/Odyssey 27, the Rangers needed just three plays to score, with Mesh scampering seven yards for a quick 6-0 lead.
The Rangers quickly got the ball back when Mesh intercepted a pass over the middle.
“That’s why I like playing both ways,” he said.
That touched off a 10-play, 65-yard scoring drive, capped by Sheffield’s seven-yard run, and it was 13-0 after 10 minutes and 44 seconds.
In the second quarter, Beachum scored from 10 yards out while Mesh had scoring jaunts of eight and four yards as Spencerport built a 33-0 lead by halftime.
“We just want to win,” Mesh said. “This group of guys just works so hard together.”
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