by TYLER HATHAWAY
The eight-game regular season finished up last week in Class AA football and the sectional matchups are set. Seven teams will fight to take home the Section V Class AA championship with quarterfinal games starting this Friday night. Rush-Henrietta secured the top-seed in the bracket with a 6-2 record and has clinched a first-round bye. The Royal Comets used wins over University Prep (5-3), Aquinas (3-5), and Fairport (3-5) to help earn the top spot.
The Royal Comets have overcome multiple injuries throughout their lineup to secure a week of rest and a spot in the semifinal round.
“Our biggest thing for our success is getting healthy and getting guys back,” said head coach Bruce Johnson. “We’ve been playing banged up for the past four weeks. But we’ve been able to pull wins out and get the one seed, that’s a testament to the guys who maybe didn’t expect to play but have stepped up and made things happen.”
One of the injuries Johnson and his team has had to deal with is one that has the potential to completely derail teams- losing your starting quarterback. Junior Branden Mangone suffered an injury in Week 5 and the Royal Comets had to adjust.
“We started off 4-0, then unfortunately Brandon got hurt and we’ve been missing him the past four games,” said Johnson. “He was a leader for us on and off the field.”
The replacement? His younger brother, freshman Evan Mangone, who Johnson says has helped Rush-Henrietta’s offense stay on the level it was before older brother Branden went down.
“Evan came in and played a big game against Fairport, helped us pull a couple games out. He’s given us what we needed to run the offense kind of up to par with where it was before.”
Johnson and his team are using the extra week of rest to focus on two things: getting healthy, and working on what helped them go undefeated through the first four weeks of the season.
“This week we’re really working on getting back to what we were doing at the start of the season when we were 4-0, while also getting healthy and getting guys back into the lineup,” Johnson explained. “We should be at full staff going forward these next couple weeks here. I’m definitely excited to see what we can do, see what kind of progress we’ve made over the last couple weeks and with guys getting healthy. I think we’ll have a lot to show teams going forward.”
Brendan Mangone has completed 70% of his passes for 1,036 yards and 13 touchdowns, while Evan Mangone posts a 70% completion percentage with eight touchdowns. Imani Wagstaff Jr. leads the Royal Comets with 1,059 rushing yards, has accrued 141 receiving yards, and scored a total of 10 touchdowns. Noah Collins-Howard has caught 28 passes for 445 yards and six touchdowns. Ronin Walker leads the defense with 74 tackles, 11 of which have come for losses.
University Prep ended the season winning three of its final four games to finish with a 5-3 record and secure the number two seed in the bracket. Only one of the Griffins’ losses has been against Section V competition (Rush-Henrietta), with the other two coming against out-of-section competition.
“I’m definitely proud of the fact that they were ready for the challenge of playing some larger private schools in Long Island and Buffalo,”head coach Isiah Young said about his players. “They embraced that challenge and I’m proud of that. They’ve shown some resolve, losing your opening game of the season is always tough but they bounced back and put together a pretty decent season.”
One of the biggest reasons for the team’s success down the stretch has been the play of the offense. The Griffins are averaging 34.5 points per game over their past four games. Young credits the guys up front for laying the groundwork for the offense’s overall success.
“Football always starts in the trenches. I think our offensive line has done a very good job in the past couple of weeks. They’ve created some very good running lanes for our guys, and our guys have taken advantage of the space they’ve been given by the offensive line. In sectionals, that’s what we want to see, the offensive line asserting their will and getting some movement up front.”
In terms of what he thinks will give his team the best chance at making a run in sectionals, Young believes that despite how well the offense has been playing, they need to limit turnovers.
“We’ve been scoring a lot of points, playing up-tempo,” Young explained. “Our plays are sometimes quick and taking care of the football is something that has hurt us not only in our losses but in some of the wins. I’ve been telling the kids the game is the ball. You cross the endline by a half an inch with the football and it’s a touchdown, not because you did but because the ball did. We’re really emphasizing that we have to take care of the football because in sectionals if you do that and play disciplined things seem to work out well for you.”
Gavin White has thrown for 920 yards, tallied 780 rushing yards, and scored a total of 20 touchdowns. Kamari Miller has run the ball 60 times for 575 yards and five scores while making 42 tackles on defense. Thomas Levans III has caught 39 passes for 568 yards and three touchdowns. Briyceton Thomas leads the defense with 60 tackles.
Penfield started the season off 1-4 but won its final three games over Pittsford, Fairport, and Rush-Henrietta to finish the season .500 and secure the No. 4 seed in the bracket.
“After our loss to UPrep we really got back to the basics and fundamentals during practice,” said head coach Anthony Bianchi. “We’ve been practicing harder, having better tempo in practice, and practicing more game-like situations. It’s definitely helped us play better in these last three games.”
Their first round opponent is Aquinas, a team that they lost to in Week 4. Bianchi has nothing but praise for the Li’l Irish.
“They’re a really physical football team. The day we played them they beat us up pretty good on the offensive and defensive line. We expect another physical game with them. They have good backs, a good line, a good defense. Hopefully we can play a little bit better this time and be ready to go toe-to-toe with them.”
One of the things Bianchi believes his team needs to do in order to advance is to play as physical as Aquinas does.
“We’re really focusing on tackling, bracketing ball carriers,” Bianchi explained. “We need to be really physical from the first quarter to the end of the game.”
Dominic Giunta has thrown for 775 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 142 rushing yards and a touchdown. Zane Kropman powers the Patriots rushing attack, totaling 1,126 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns. Ronan Boyle has caught 24 passes for 291 yards and three touchdowns. Defensively, Jake Maurer has made 28 tackles, intercepted three passes, recovered a fumble, and totaled eight pass break-ups.
The schedule for the Class AA quarterfinal round is listed below.
FRIDAY
No. 5 Aquinas (3-5) at No. 4 Penfield (4-4) at 6:00 pm
SATURDAY
No. 7 McQuaid (2-6) at No. 2 University Prep (5-3) at 1:00 pm at Rochester Community Sports Complex
No. 6 Fairport (3-5) at No. 3 Pittsford (4-4) at 2:00 pm
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