By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Pittsford’s Brody Pusateri had orchestrated two previous drives that saw teammates find paydirt.
But when it came to the go-ahead score Friday night, the junior quarterback figured he’d take it himself.
On third and goal from the nine-yard line in the fourth quarter of 21-all game, Pusateri faked a handoff up the middle to teammate Eric Chen. He turned to his left and found room to run, which is what he did.
“I was telling coach, the end was biting,” Pusateri said of the play design. “Let’s run a rollout, let’s run a boot and try to make them bite. We ran it. I had the edge.
“I saw Dayshawn (Preston) wide open, but I’m like, I’m going to take one for my own. Ran to the pylon, luckily, got in.”
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Pusateri’s touchdown gave the Panthers a lead they did not surrender in a 35-21 win over previously unbeaten Rush-Henrietta.
“They’re the number-one team,” Pusateri said of the host Royal Comets. “Before the game, everybody’s counting us out. We were like, why not us? It felt great to steal a homecoming win from them. It was awesome.”
Pittsford (3-2) had dropped two of three heading into Friday’s action, but against Rush-Henrietta (ranked No. 23 NYSSWA Class AA), a team that had held its previous four opponents to a combined 28 points, the Panthers scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
“A lot of discipline,” said Pusateri who completed 14-of-21 passes in the game. “We talked all week. Past few weeks we made a few mistakes offensively that cost us games. We tried to stay disciplined, do our jobs, do our 1/11th. The outcome went in our favor.”
Early on, the story looked like it would belong to Pusateri’s unexpected counterpart.
When Rush-Henrietta starting quarterback Brendan Mangone went to the sideline late in the first quarter with an injury, it was his brother, Evan Mangone, a ninth-grader, who took over under center.
The younger Mangone looked like he had found his rhythm when he led Xavier Cox over the middle for a 43-yard catch-and-run. Four plays later, Rush-Henrietta had a 14-7 with :31 seconds remaining in the first half.
Mangone and Cox connected again on a 14-yard score for a 21-14 R-H lead late in the third quarter.
From there, Pittsford scored on its remaining three drives.
“It’s awesome to see them be so cool in a situation like that and being able to go out and execute,” said Pittsford head coach Steve Marriott. “They battled for four quarters. We talked about it being a fist fight. Going out and doing it for a whole game, and they absolutely showed they could do that.”
A Joshua Shadders interception at the Pittsford 20-yard line gave the Panthers the ball with the lead and less than five minutes remaining in the game.
Eric Chen’s 65-yard run, three plays later, along the right sideline sealed the game.
“Shout out to my line, man,” said Chen who finished with 98 rushing yards. “I couldn’t do that without them. Our receivers had great blocks down field. Our line blocked perfectly on that. I was able to find the edge and take it to the house.”
“I was thinking of last year. We lost here against them. This year, it’s ours to come back and beat them. I refused to go down because I wanted this game really bad, you know. “
Max Ciavarri led the Pittsford defense with 10 tackles, one sack and six quarterback hurries.
Miko Vaughn returned an interception for a touchdown to give Pittsford an early 7-0 lead.
Rush-Henrietta’s Imani Wagstaff, Jr. broke off a 73-yard run to tie the game at 7-7.
Evan Mangone and Noah Collins-Howard connected on a fourth down play to give R-H a 14-7 lead.
R-H (4-1) heads to Fairport for a 3 p.m. kickoff next Saturday.
Pittsford hosts Penfield for a 7 p.m. start next Friday.
*Article has been updated.
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