By TIM IRVING
“We have star players who are gonna make star plays, I’ve said that since week one and we just got the job done.”
Batavia senior quarterback Javin McFollins threw a virtual Hail Mary that was caught by Vincent Arroyo with :02 left on the clock and the Blue Devils pulled out a 14-8 victory over Monroe in the Section V Class B football finals at SUNY Brockport Saturday.
Top-seeded Batavia marched down the field on the first drive of the game with McFollins finding Cole Grazioplene for 38 yards and a 7-0 lead.
Both teams locked down the running game, in Batavia’s case, senior running back Aidan Anderson went out early with an injury, forcing both teams to throw.
Which neither offense took advantage of, Messiah Hampton with the interception to end of the first half, still 7-0.
Monroe got the ball to start the second half and quarterback Khaya Moses connected with Landan McKnight for 26 yards. Nazhier Wilson punched in the two-point conversion and the Red Jackets led 8-7.
And then both defenses went into lockdown.
With just over eight minutes to play in the fourth quarter, Karvel Martino recovered a Monroe fumble to get the Blue Devils the ball back.
McFollins then threw a lateral to Arroyo, who got hit as he threw and the ball was intercepted by Wilson and the Red Jackets went back on offense.
They got to the Batavia 31-yard line with 6:11 to play but on 4th and 3, Moses’ pass fell incomplete and Batavia took over.
Cameron McClinic and McFollins gained 12 yards on the first two plays but the next three gained just five yards and left 4th and 5 from the Monroe 49 yard line with 3:12 to play.
“Monroe came around flying, the stopped us pretty much all game, it came down and they stopped the run,” McFollins said.
McFollins went to the air and hit Cooper Fix for 13 yards to move the chains and then scrambled for 10 yards to get the Blue Devils inside the 25-yard line.
With 49 seconds left, McFollins rolled to his right looking for a receiver in the end zone but was sacked by Juan Antonio Rivera for a five-yard loss to the 18.
McClinic then thought he’d scored the go-ahead touchdown but it was waved off by an illegal block in the back.
With 35 seconds left, McFollins completed a pass to his brother, Carter McFollins-Cramer and that set up first and goal from the eight.
The Red Jackets stopped a run and McFollins clocked the ball before throwing an incompletion on third down.
With the ball at the 14-yard line, the Blue Devils made a late decision to have kicker Julia Petry try a field goal but before they snapped the ball, delay of game was called and it was backed up five yards.
McFollins and the offense came back out for a fourth down play and ten seconds left.
“That last play, I just had something in me that said they’re gonna go up and get it, “ McFollins said.
His pass had two potential receivers, his brother and Arroyo. Carter tipped the ball and Arroyo caught it for the win.
“Those little concentration drills in practice, the tip drill, the tip drill’s important,” Arroyo said.
Head coach Brennan Briggs, meanwhile, was holding his breath.
“While it was up there I was thinking, man, they’ve got some athletes this probably isn’t gonna be great but we’ve got some guys that just concentrate.”
“I wanted to go to my brother, we’ve always just had that connection since we were kids and once I saw him tip it up and get it to another star player, I knew we were good,” said McFollins, who threw for 184 yards and two touchdowns to earn MVP honors.
This was the second straight Section V Class B title for the Blue Devils who will face Iroquois of Section VI in the Far West Regionals at the U of R’s Fauver Stadium Friday night.
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