By BOB CHAVEZ
CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. — Jeff Welch wanted just one thing from his Canandaigua Academy football team on Friday night.
“We just needed to play some good, smart football,” he said.
The 34-8 victorious final score over Gates Chili is evidence that the Gray Wolves honored that request. And not only did it give Canandaigua its second straight win, it gave Welch his 100th career victory.
“It’s a lot of hard work by a lot of people,” Welch said of the milestone. “Canandaigua is a special place where greatness is an expectation. We have a great staff that appreciates that and makes the community proud.”
Following last week’s shutout win at Wilson, the Gray Wolves started Friday’s game with a no-nonsense drive primarily on the ground, covering 61 yards on nine running plays before freshman quarterback Austin Kierst found senior Jordan Thomas on an inside slot route in stride for a 19-yard score. And if that set the tone, the Canandaigua defense amplified it by pushing Gates Chili backward 9 yards in three plays to force a punt on its opening possession.
The ensuing Gray Wolves drive looked just like the first but a Jordan Thomas fumble gave Gates Chili a chance at its own 35 late in the first quarter. And as much as that miscue snuffed CA momentum, the response was ideal.
The Spartans (3-3) drove to midfield and decided to go for it on 4th-and-3 but a sweep to the left wasn’t just stopped short, it was stopped by an aggressive Thomas whose tackle forced a turnover on downs. Three plays later, CA’s Jack Clark rumbled in from 32 yards out to give the Gray Wolves (4-2) a 14-0 lead with 5:48 left in the first half.
“We talked about eliminating mistakes,” Welch said. “But there was no panic after that fumble. We needed to respond and he did that.”
Apparently, that wasn’t enough for Thomas.
When Gates Chili lined up for a punt with less than a minute left in the half, Thomas was barely touched on any of the 63 yards he covered on the return that gave the Gray Wolves a 20-0 lead heading into halftime. And when the CA defense opened the second half with another three-and-out for the Spartans offense, followed by a 10-yard TD pass from Kierst to Cayden Gullace to cap a 54-yard drive, the 27-0 lead was as commanding as it looked.
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As much as the CA offense clicked, the defense may have been more locked in. The Gray Wolves recorded six sacks of Gates Chili quarterback Nathaniel McKinney and even when he wasn’t sacked, many of his passes were rushed in the face of a possessed pass rush.
CA senior Brody Scharr was in on two of those sacks and Gullace was a force in four as the CA defense continued to excel with new people in new roles. Last week, the Gray Wolves shut out Wilson, 33-0, and the only Gates Chili touchdown on Friday came late in the game against CA reserves.
“Tonight, we had a lot of gap integrity,” said Gullace. “The last two games, we’ve just gotten back to basics and filled all the gaps.”
Scharr gave credit to the defensive line for work it did in creating the space that allowed him and fellow linebacker Gullace to get to the backfield. Oh, and the coaches, too.
“We knew we had to play better,” he said. “And Coach Welch keeps our heads on straight and helped us tighten things up.”
And for those wondering, yes, Brody Scharr is related to the Bill Scharr who quarterbacked the Canandaigua powerhouse teams of the 1980s. In fact, he wears the same No. 19 that his father wore during his playing days.
“It means everything,” he said. “To carry on the tradition and play at this school. It’s great.”
The CA defense continued to frustrate the Gates Chili offense through the third quarter with sacks on three consecutive drives. The first forced the Spartans into a fourth-and-15, the second into a fourth-and-17 and third and fourth into a fourth-and-25. That last set of sacks backed the Spartans to their own one for a punt early in the fourth quarter and Thomas added the exclamation point for this Senior Night win with a return for a TD that covered about 50 yards.
And with two straight wins, Welch likes the direction of his Gray Wolves heading into their regular-season finale next week at East High.
“After we lost (two weeks ago), we needed to face some adversity in order to grow,” said Welch. “We told the kids they just needed to eliminate some mistakes and we’ll be OK. We moved some kids around, got a team-first attitude and play some really good football. Tonight, we did that.”
FAN-TASTIC article Bob !
Austin Kierst was just one of your and my young neighborhood boys when I moved away from Canandaigua and look at him today.
That CA football program never fails to amaze us.
good going guys !