By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
Nick Sanko admitted that when the pass was in the air, he was not as confident as his play would suggest.
“Honestly, I was thinking, ‘Oh no. Oh no,'” he recalled.
Sanko could be forgiven for his wariness, as 6-foot-3 wide receiver Jaydin Johnson had already won a jump ball that turned into an 80-yard touchdown in addition to outjumping Pittsford’s secondary for a two-point conversion. There was little question which direction Monroe was going with the overtime in the balance.
Noah O’nell Hill-Billings’s throw to the end zone did not reach its intended target. Sanko, who scored both touchdowns in the overtime, jumped to pick off the pass and complete the Panthers’ season-opening victory.
“I saw the ball was overthrown a little bit,” Sanko remarked, “and I just jumped as soon as I thought I could, because I didn’t want to give him a chance to grab the ball. It worked out.”
The Red Jackets applied early pressure when Christian James caught a touchdown to cap a 10-play opening drive and Pittsford fumbled the ensuing kickoff. The teams traded leads after that, with neither side grabbing a lead greater than eight points. Monroe matched Pittsford over 48 regulation minutes and the first overtime period despite having its roster, made up of players from five schools, finalized for just a week and a half.
Melqui Montalvo rushed up the middle untouched for the Red Jackets’ first score of overtime, but Sanko answered with both the touchdown and two-point conversion. Had Monroe scored on its second overtime drive, it likely would have set up an all-or-nothing two-point situation after Pittsford tacked on an extra point to take a seven-point lead.
“There’s some big-time football players out there,” Pittsford coach Keith Molinich said of the Monroe squad. “I can’t wait to get their names, along with the coaching staff, their names out across this country. There’s elite Division I athletes over there playing big-time football. I was so excited to be part of it.
“Yeah, coming up on the positive side… lots of mistakes on both sides; we’ve all gotta grow from this. This is a great football division- that team’s gonna be in it. And there’s only 28 or 29 guys, but that’s grit. True grit.”
Pittsford showcased its stable of running backs, which included a touchdown from fullback Nathan Rodi, a Caleb Lewis keeper and Jake LaRocca running in the first touchdown of the season.
“Coach uses me in a lot of spots; tailback, fullback, kick-out,” Rodi explained, “and I just do whatever my team needs. Whatever helps my team, you’ve just gotta keep plugging through because our running game is just constant. One run after the other, cranking through the whole game.”
“Sanko was tremendous,” Molinich assessed. “Coming back after wrestling, it was really tough for him to come back and play football in the spring. He played with us as a sophomore; we know he’s great. He’s done a great job. And honestly, we’ve got four tailbacks… We’ve got to be able to look at our gameplan and utilize everybody better.”
Considering the quick-turn preparation Monroe had with its full roster, fans likely didn’t see the Red Jackets’ best on Saturday afternoon. A rematch of the overtime clash is set for Oct. 16 in Pittsford.
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