By BOB CHAVEZ
CANANDAIGUA — Jayden Jager was to the point of apologizing for his tears as he talked about his love for the game of football and how much his teammates meant to him.
But then came the clarification, which revealed the true source of those tears: The doubters.
Of course, beating Canandaigua Academy and spoiling Homecoming for the Gray Wolves doesn’t hurt either.
Jager was the dagger for the Saints on Friday night, popping in and out and then away for yardage and touchdowns that sent Churchville-Chili to a surprising 43-36 victory over the tired but game Gray Wolves who took this game to the final snap.
“I’ve never been happier,” Jager said between tears and the encouragement of teammate Kendred Beachum. “I’ve never cried tears of happiness like this before, but it’s such a great feeling. Everyone doubted us. I just love this game. I truly do.”
Churchville-Chili improves to 3-1 this season while Canandaigua falls to 2-2, losing consecutive games for the first time since 2013.
“We knew we were going to have some growing pains,” Gray Wolves coach Jeff Welch said. “And we’re going through them.”
Early, all the pain belonged to Churchville-Chili. Jack Clark took the opening kickoff 90 yards for a Canandaigua touchdown and after the CA defense forced a three-and-out, Canandaigua struck again with a 40-yard drive. Jordan Thomas took it in from 12 yards out to give the Gray Wolves a 14-0 lead before the Saints found their footing.
“Next play,” said C-C quarterback Jaxon Leonard. “We had to put all that out of our minds.”
C-C converted a short fourth-down play to keep its second drive alive and when Jager scooted in from 4 yards out to end the first quarter, the Saints had momentum. The momentum was strengthened even more by a Canandaigua fumble on its next drive that C-C recovered at its own 48 and Andrew Frost capped that drive with a 4-yard TD run.
But Canandaigua still led the game, 14-12, after the Saints came up empty on a pair of 2-point conversion tries, both spoiled by bad snaps. After the Saints forced a CA punt, the Saints appeared to be in the same boat when they lined up for a punt facing 4th-and-13 at their own 32. But a roughing the kicker call against Canandaigua gave them another chance and Ryan Barry’s 17-yard field goal gave C-C a 15-14 lead heading into halftime.
From there, the C-C running game was on display and the Gray Wolves, who lost two key players to injury in the first half, struggled on defense.
“We couldn’t stop them,” Welch said.
Jager’s second TD of the game, 36-yard run on third-and-five made it a 22-14 game but the Gray Wolves responded with an 87-yard kickoff return by Thomas to the C-C 1 and on the next play, Clark took it in from a yard out. His 2-point conversion run tied the game, 22-22, but by this point the size of C-C up front was in charge. Still, CA had C-C facing 4th-and-3 from the CA 23 but Leonard found an open Andrew Jeffers on the right side for a TD and a 29-22 lead, then added to that lead when Beachum recovered an on-side kick to set up Jager’s third TD of the game that gave the Saints a 36-22 lead.
Canandaigua wasn’t done, though. The Gray Wolves pulled to within 36-28 with Clark’s second TD run of the game late in the third quarter and after forcing a C-C punt, the window of opportunity was there. But Beachum’s interception ruined that drive for Canandaigua, whose defense responded by forcing yet another punt early in the fourth quarter. But another interception, this one by Jeffers, stopped Canandaigua. And when Jager scored another TD from 2 yards out, the Saints had a 43-28 lead.
But the heart of Canandaigua kept the game close. Thomas recovered a fumble for the Gray Wolves with 3:09 left at the C-C 31 and his 7-yard TD run, plus Clark’s 2-point run, made it a one-score game with 2:18 left.
Levi Chalmers recovered the onside kick for C-C but big tackles by Thomas and Brody Scharr kept the Saints from advancing and they were forced to punt on 4th-and-18 with 26 seconds left.
Dreams of an epic rally were raised by Thomas’s 80-yard punt return for a touchdown, but a flag for an illegal block brought those dreams back to earth. And with 8 seconds left from their own 17, the final play for the Gray Wolves was stopped, clinching the C-C victory.
“They’re good,” said Welch. “They’re big up front and they have skill kids. They made very few mistakes … but you’re not going to win when you turn the ball over. We installed a new system and that’s not anything against our personnel. It’s on us as coaches too. We’re still learning how to teach it.”
As for Churchville-Chili, its first win over Canandaigua in five all-time games is as sweet as it gets. Especially for coach Dennis Pynn, who came into this season knowing he had plenty of size on the offensive line. But his challenge was to get that size moving and executing, which by all accounts was doing just fine on Friday night.
“We knew it was going to be a challenge here tonight,” he said. “We spent a lot of time in the weight room this summer and they bought into it. Tonight, it showed.”
Leave a Reply