by TYLER HATHAWAY
WEBSTER, NY– Just over a month ago, Victor let one get away. The Blue Devils had built a halftime lead against Webster Thomas on their home turf, but gave up 26 unanswered points in the second half and turned the ball over three times in what ended as a 26-13 loss.
“They took it to us at our place,” said Victor head coach Geoff Mandile. “We were ahead at halftime and they just killed us in the second half.”
On Friday night, Victor found itself in a similar spot. The Blue Devils had built another first-half lead against Webster Thomas, this time leading 9-6 heading into the break. They just had to finish.
“We’ve been preaching all year to play a four-quarter game and playing with intensity,” said Mandile. “We’ve had some mental lapses at times.”
But unlike their first matchup in September, Victor was able to seal the deal against Webster Thomas the second time around. The seventh-seeded Blue Devils kept the No. 2 seed Titans off of the board in the second half and won 12-6 in the first round of the 2025 Class A1 sectional tournament.
“For our kids to just come out, and play four quarters,” said Mandile. “We needed to and we did tonight. I’m just proud of our guys.”
“It feels amazing”, Victor quarterback Gus Pappajohn said of the win. “They (Webster Thomas) got us on our senior night, we came in tonight after a huge week of practice and we knew we were gonna take them down”.
“We knew it certainly wasn’t a normal 2/7 game, anybody can beat anybody on any night,” Mandile explained. “We told our kids it had to be one night and we did it tonight.”
After Webster Thomas running back MJ Wells scored a touchdown on the Titans’ opening drive, the Blue Devils blocked the extra point to keep the score at 6-0. Victor would end the night with an interception and two fourth-down stops deep in their own territory to keep the Titans from scoring any more points. Webster Thomas had scored at least 25 points in each of its past six games.
“We ramped up the intensity tackling wise this week in practice,” said Mandile. “We don’t typically hit but we knew how physical Webster Thomas was so we wanted to make sure we were tackling well and we did tonight.”
Leading by six, Victor took over after a fourth down stop with just under six minutes left in the fourth quarter, and the Blue Devils offense went on to put together a drive that would drain the rest of the clock. Matthew Langan had a 33-yard run that moved the ball into Victor territory, and with just over two minutes left on fourth and four, and Webster Thomas having already exhausted its timeouts, Pappajohn tucked a bootleg and ran untouched for the first down to seal the game.
“If we don’t get it, it’s okay, our defense is playing great,” Mandile told his team before the play. “Just can’t turn it over, can’t give them momentum. We talked in the huddle, he (Pappajohn) isn’t a runner usually, but I told him if you got it, take it. Instead of putting it in the air, having to make a throw and catch, he did what he needed to do.”
“This team, there’s a lot of energy on the bench,” said Pappajohn. “We just played as a whole team and we got it done.”
Victor scored its lone touchdown of the game early in the second quarter when Pappajohn found wideout Gage Hay for an eight-yard touchdown to cap off a drive that featured two fourth down conversions. In addition to the touchdown, Pappajohn had two completions on two different fourth and 10s to keep drives going, with the team getting points on both of those drives.
“He’s just very cool under pressure,” Mandile said of his quarterback. “The last month of the season he’s been making some great decisions, and taking care of the football. When we need him to run he does a great job, had the play of the game on fourth down late to seal the game.”
“Just get the first down, and get it to the open guy,” Pappajohn said his mindset is on those kind of plays.
Right before the end of the first half, Pappajohn hit receiver Kevin Booth on a bootleg play that moved the Victor offense into the redzone. Andre Poselvich would knock down his first of two field goals just before halftime, with the other coming late in the third quarter after a drive that went 85 yards. That drive was set up by an interception by Luke Johnson during Webster Thomas’ opening drive of the second half.
“I’m just proud of them,” Mandile said of his defense. “Our defensive coach, Coach Ojeda, did an awesome job. To hold that team to six points is pretty significant.”
Victor advances to face the No. 6 seed in Class A1, Webster Schroeder, in the semifinals. The two faced each other in Week 2, with the Blue Devils coming out with a 21-12 win.
“Just staying consistent, staying within ourselves,” Mandile said is the key to his team’s success. “Avoiding mental mistakes, just keeping our composure and doing what we do.”
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