By PAUL GOTHAM
VESTAL, N.Y. — Brighton football’s season of firsts ended Friday at Dick Hoover Stadium on the campus of Vestal High School.
The Bruins, which had won an inaugural sectional title in program history two weeks ago and subsequent regional championship seven days later, fell to Whitesboro (III), 49-21 in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) Class A semifinal.
Brighton closes its season with a record of 12-1.
“When you’ve never won a title before, even though that’s the goal something we thought we could accomplish, to be able to do it and actually get over the hump, you can’t say enough good things about these guys,” said Brighton head coach Steve Lian. “They’ve dealt with so much adversity. Then to be able to go win a regional game the way they did to get to this point. We got to play football after Thanksgiving. You can’t be upset about that.”
The Bruins, playing without junior wide receiver/linebacker Amari Snowden due to a season-ending injury suffered in the sectional championship game, were handed one more setback Friday night when Matthew Heininger went to the sideline with an injury in the first quarter. The junior linebacker/tight end did not return to action for the remainder of the contest.
“In my mind, he’s one of the best football players in New York State, and we had already lost our other really great linebacker in the sectional final,” Lian said. “Now you’re out your two best linebackers. It’s going to be difficult, obviously.”
Heininger accounted for three touchdowns and provided a key block to free teammate Noah Wagner for a 100-yard pick-six in Brighton’s 48-14 win over Sweet Home (IV) in the state quarterfinals.
“Our offensive gameplan had to change quite a bit,” Lian said. “There were some formational things we couldn’t do without Matthew. It was tough, but that’s football. You can’t make excuses.”
Grady Hopkin hit Wes Sturrup for Brighton’s first touchdown with 3:36 remaining in the first quarter. The 50-yard catch-and-run tied the game at 7-7.
NYS Class A: Grady Hopkin’s first pass of the night hits Wes Sturrup for 50 yards. 3:36 to go in the first quarter: Whitesboro 7 @Brighton_FB 7 @SecVFootball pic.twitter.com/VWNGeCIEuA
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) November 29, 2024
“They were loading up to stop the run,” Lian said of Whitesboro’s defense. “They were giving us pass stuff. We felt good.
“We’ve never played these guys, and they’re obviously good. You got to feel it out. When you play a team, there’s a feeling out process. I felt like we were doing that. Even though they had scored, we felt like we were in a good spot, but again Matthew Heininger is such a massive part of everything we do – offense, defense, special teams. To lose him, you want to be able to continue to go on, but you can’t help but feel a little bit of the wind knocked out of your sails.”
When Hopkin and Sturrup combined on a second score early in the fourth quarter, Brighton trailed 42-14.
“To our kids’ credit, we were putting some kids in different positions and had to try to do their best to fill-in for Matthew. Not their fault, they don’t have as much practice doing it. They did the best they could.”
With the win, Whitesboro clinched a return to the state final to be played next Friday at the JMA Wireless Dome on the campus of Syracuse University.
“There’s a reason Whitesboro’s going back to the Dome for the second year in a row. That’s a really well-coached, really talented football team. It was their night, and it wasn’t ours.”
The 2024 Bruins set a new a standard for a program which had come up short in three previous sectional final appearances.
“Every player that comes after them doesn’t have to wonder ‘Can we do it? They’ve seen a group do it. We’ve never had to beg our kids to work hard. They’ve always done that. We’ve always been lucky to have some talented kids. We’ve always been lucky to have families and parents that commit to the program and buy in to what we do. Now, they’ve been able to see a group do it and see what it takes to win. Hopefully, that will just continue to trickle down for the kids.”
Brighton came into the contest holding opponents under 10 points a game. The Bruins previous season-high for points allowed was 21.
Whitesboro (13-0) averaged 49-plus points in its previous 12 outings.
The Warriors scored touchdowns on each of their first six drives with senior quarterback Memphis Ferguson and sophomore running back Connor Mcdonald finding the end zone three times apiece to give the Section III champion a 42-7 lead with 6:59 left in the third quarter.
“We were dominant in the run game, and we threw really well,” said Whitesboro head coach Curtis Schmidt. “We have a balanced attack. We’ve been scoring a lot of points this year especially in the regular season. It’s always been in this team. We leaned on our line and our good backs. We stay balanced and caught them off-guard a little bit.”
Whitesboro defeated East/WOI, 43-20 in the 2023 NYS Class A semifinals.
“I had high expectations going into this game for our team,” Schmidt said. “They just do things the right way. They prepare, watch film. They meet in the morning. They meet during lunch. They meet before practice. We have zoom meetings at night after practice. This is a 12-month a year gig here at Whitesboro. These kids are all in. After next week, they’ll have two weeks off and the juniors and sophomores will be back in the weight room preparing for next season. It’s just the way we do things. We got a really good culture. Credit goes to our youth coaches, to our modified coach who has been there for 30 years. Our JV coach has been there for 30 years. We’re in a really good situation.”
Whitesboro will face Somers (I) in the state championship game next Friday. A 6 p.m. kickoff is scheduled.
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