By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Late in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s Section V Football matchup, the Rush-Henrietta coaching staff exhorted players on the field with one statement repeated from the sideline: “Answer the question!”
On a night when the Royal Comets had all the responses needed, the message was clear: the task at hand was the single game facing R-H on this night, but there is a larger goal that the program is looking to reach.
Brendan Mangone completed touchdowns to four different receivers, and the Royal Comets left no doubt in a 40-14 win over UPrep at the Rochester Community Sports Complex.
“It’s coming out and making sure everybody does their 1/11th and handle business,” said first-year head coach Bruce Johnson after his squad improved to 4-0 on the season. “Football is about one-on-ones. Win your individual battle and answer the question.”
R-H did just that, scoring touchdowns on its first six drives while holding UPrep (2-2), a team averaging better than 31 points per game in its previous three outings, to a single score through the first 41 minutes of action.
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“Answer the question is answer your call,” Johnson said. “We are big on defense. Nobody scores on us. We know we have the athletes to do so.”
R-H opened the game with a 14-play, 88-yard drive that encompassed more than five minutes of game time. The Royal Comets then rattled off a 10-play, 86-yard march to start the second quarter. After recovering a fumble deep in UPrep territory, they shrugged off a holding call on first down and used four plays to make it a 20-0 game.
UPrep cut the margin to 20-7, but any chance of a comeback was put to rest on the next two drives.
R-H (No. 26 NYSSWA Class AA) went 81 yards in little over two minutes to end the second quarter then took the opening kickoff of the second half and chewed up nearly seven minutes with a 12-play, 73-yard drive.
“Execution, that was the word of the week,” Johnson said. “We’re big on effort, relentless effort, big on details but I figured I would change the word this week to execution. We haven’t played two halves of football the entire year. We kinda slid our way through the first couple games, by not really scoring so much in the second half. I told the guys No. 1 we got to run the football, which we did tonight. No. 2 we have to continue to score in the second half. We can’t come out at halftime and be down. We got to keep scoring.”
Mangone showed his combination of athleticism and pocket savviness on touchdown throws to cap the two drives.
On fourth and goal from the four, the junior signal caller recovered a high snap before rolling to his right and finding Kendric Jackson in the end zone for a 27-7 lead.
Then on another fourth down, this one from the seven, he was flushed out of the pocket. In mid stride, like a point guard driving the lane, he lofted a floater to Xavier Cox in the back of the end zone.
“When we’re in the red zone, I know we got guys who can make plays,” Mangone said. “As soon as I get my eyes up, I try and find someone and I try to let them make a play.”
Mangone finished the night 18-of-21 through the air for 310 yards. He rushed for another 28 yards on four carries.
“I got to give it to the O-line,” he said. “This week they were amazing. We really harped on them to be good, and they just absolutely did phenomenal today. That helped with everything on the field.”
“I get a little scared sometimes when he scrambles outside the pocket,” said Johnson a former offensive lineman who played at the University of Maine before signing contracts with the Philadelphia Eagles and later the San Diego (Los Angeles) Chargers of the NFL. “I’m big on not giving up sacks. Any time he gets outside the pocket, I’m like ah, here we go.”
Through the first six drives of the game, R-H ran 49 plays. Of those, three ended in an incompletion, three more went for no gain and two for a loss. They were assessed two penalties on offense during that stretch. The Royal Comets went forward and mostly downhill on the other 41 plays.
“We were in flow state to be completely honest,” Mangone said. “We know what we can do. Once we get into that flow, no one can really stop us.”
takes the second half kickoff, goes 73 yards in 12 plays (one penalty) and takes a 34-7 lead. (Video: PAUL GOTHAM)
Imani Wagstaff Jr. rushed for 164 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries in the win. The junior also caught a 27-yard pass for another score. He had two tackles including one for a loss and a sack. Noah Collins-Howard caught six passes for 108 yards and a score.
Cox made eight catches for 58 yards. The senior defensive back also had a pass break-up. Jackson finished with four catches for 40 yards along with an interception, a forced fumble, two pass break-ups and two tackles.
Ryder Zuchegno accounted for two sacks and two tackles for a loss. Terell Moore had three pass break-ups and a fumble recovery. Mangone also had four tackles and kicked four extra points.
UPrep (No. 15 NYSSWA Class AA) handed Fairport its first loss of the season a week ago. This after beating Pittsford 39-20.
On Thursday, the Griffins struggled to sustain an offense.
“We came out a little flat because we used a lot of energy with the excitement for a big matchup,” said head coach Isiah Young. “All we can do now is get better. I told the team in the fourth quarter, it was 40-7 at that point. We have 10 minutes now to get better for next week. That’s all we can do. These are lessons we got to learn. They grew as men and finished the game.”
UPrep will travel to Penfield for a 12:30 p.m. kickoff next Saturday.
R-H hosts Pittsford for its homecoming next Friday. A 6:30 p.m start is scheduled.
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