By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Ninth-grade quarterback Trent Buttles finished with four touchdowns (two through the air and two on the ground) while Derrion Battle and Pete Agnello combined for three more scores as the host Aquinas Li’l Irish rolled to a 49-14 Homecoming victory over Rush-Henrietta, Saturday afternoon.
Leading 28-14 late in the third quarter, Buttles scrambled for 67 yards and his second touchdown in as many drives to give the Li’L Irish a three-score advantage that they did not surrender.
“He saw daylight and took it,” first-year head coach Moe Jackson said. “Once he gets a chance to open it up like that, he takes full advantage of it. I love him for that.”
The 5-foot-10 signal caller rushed for 83 yards and threw for another 103. He connected on touchdown strikes with Joshua Ernst, Jr. and Thomas Levans III as AQ built a 21-7 at halftime.
Finding a balance for Buttles between plays in the air and on the ground is the challenge for Jackson and Aquinas.
Trent Buttles steps up in the pocket, scrambles and find room along the sideline for a 67-yard TD. PAT is good. @AQ_football 35-14. @SecVFootball pic.twitter.com/vR4xGiF6GU
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) September 30, 2023
“Trent is in a very, very tough spot,” Jackson said. “Right now, because of our quarterback situation, I have to hold him back. If he goes down, we are without someone who can throw the ball. So he’s in a tough spot.”
The rest of the AQ backfield did its part.
Battle rushed for 138 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries. The junior running back scored from five yards out for a 42-14 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Agnello scored once and gained 70 yards on 10 carries.
“As a one-two punch, they’ve been working for us. We just want to keep the train rolling.”
The Li’l Irish gained 317 yards on the ground.
“Our schemes are good,” Jackson said. “Our guys they buy into it, and they’re being physical. It’s the physicality that we bring to the table. Our running backs, they see the holes. They see what we want in the play. They go out and take it.”
The win was the second straight for Aquinas (3-2) which defeated Fairport 35-14 last week. This after dropping a pair of games at the friendly confines earlier in the season.
“The first one at home, in front of the alumni, I couldn’t ask for anything better than that,” Jackson said. “We started a bit slow, but we picked it up and got the ball rolling.
“Our biggest problem is ourselves. We got to make sure that we are doing all the little things correctly. They bought into it a week ago. Now I think we got it. If we can build on it, that’s the key. They understand that it’s about execution first, and then the athleticism will play its part. Once we buckled down and talked about executing and paying attention to detail, the boys do pretty well.”
Sean Mayo highlighted an opportunistic AQ defense. The junior defensive back returned an interception 60 yards to set up the Agnello touchdown. He recovered a fumble and forced another on the opening kickoff of the second half.
“We know what we can do,” Jackson said. “We just got to go out there and execute. That’s what it’s about.”
Quante Gillians had five tackles, two sacks and one fumble recovery. Brody Lennox added nine tackles.
Rush-Henrietta’s defense made back-to-back stops deep in its own territory early in the third quarter, but the Royal Comets did not take take advantage.
“We keep giving the same message every week,” R-H head coach Joe Montesano said. “We did make it 21-7 then we made two turnovers back-to-back. We’re not overcoming that. This is Game 5, and we need to be better with the football. The expectations are high in this program. We love our kids, but we need to be better.”
Ninth-grade quarterback Brendan Mangone hit Nasir Patton for a 60-yard catch and run to make it a 28-14 game late in the third quarter.
Second and 10, Brendan Mangone rolls out and finds Nasir Patton for the catch-and-run, 60 yards and an @RushAthletics TD Pat is good. 1:35 remaining in the third @AQ_football 28-14. pic.twitter.com/0gxZhfawwx
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) September 30, 2023
R-H will host UPrep for a 1 PM start next Saturday afternoon.
Aquinas travels for a 7 PM kickoff at Penfield on Friday.
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