by TYLER HATHAWAY
BROCKPORT, NY– Around 10:00 pm on October 17th, the Brighton Bruins were walking to their buses after a tough loss. They had just fallen 31-21 in their regular season finale at Webster Schroeder, a bad first two and half quarters in which they fell behind 28-7 being the difference. A second half rally in which they scored back-to-back touchdowns to make it a one-score game fell short.
“They took it to us in the regular season,” said Brighton head coach Stephen Lian. “We were just awful for the first half, kind of sleepwalking through it.”
“We came out kind of slow, and didn’t play the best,” said junior Leo Hopkins.
But three weeks later in the Class A1 championship game at SUNY Brockport on Friday night, the Bruins played an almost exact copy of the first game they had against Webster Schroeder, just on the other side of it.
Brighton was the one who ran out to a big halftime lead, taking a 16-0 lead into the break. The Bruins held off a third quarter rally by the Warriors that saw Webster Schroeder make it 16-12 entering the fourth quarter, and Brighton would go on to win 30-20, avenging their regular season loss. The win gave the Bruins a second straight sectional title.
“I’m just so happy for our players,” said Lian. “These guys have put so much into it, we have guys that have done everything right. We challenged them a couple of years ago, told them we have the opportunity to be part of a dynasty here. For them to go to three championship games in a row and win two back-to-back, you can’t ask for anything more. That was a goal for us, we didn’t want to just be a one-trick pony.”
“I mean it feels great,” said senior Matthew Heininger. “Coach Lian has had us in the weight room and working with older kids since like elementary school. It’s all the work paying off, and I’m truly so grateful to have another week to play the game with my brothers.”
“I’m just so blessed to do it again with my family,” said Hopkins about winning two straight titles. “I just love all my brothers on this team.”
Brighton won the sectional title in a classification that saw five of its nine teams finish the regular season with a 5-2 record or better.
“I think to just make it here is a huge accomplishment, especially in Class A with how competitive it is,” said Lian. “For our guys to be able to win, I mean, that’s special.”
Heininger was named the game’s most valuable player. The University at Buffalo commit scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter to seal the game after carrying the ball five times on a drive that saw him pick up a fourth down and run for over 30 yards.
“He cemented that he’s the greatest player in the history of our program,” said Lian. “Back to back titles, three finals appearances in a row, MVP today. Guys don’t understand how dedicated he is and what a great teammate he is. Most humble kid in the world.”
“Honestly, I couldn’t do it without any of my teammates,” said Heininger about winning the award. “I’m super grateful to have it, but I wish there could be an MVP for everyone on the team.”
Hopkins took home defensive player of the game honors. The junior defensive back had an interception late in the fourth quarter that set up Heininger’s touchdown drive that iced the game, and also caught and ran for a touchdown of his own.
“I’m truly blessed, I’m so happy,” Hopkins said about winning the award. “I’m just happy I get another week with my brothers.”
“He’s awesome,” Lian said of Hopkins. “He’s one of these guys we have that are like the unsung heroes of this team. He made some big plays when he got the opportunity to.”
The Bruins defense opened the game forcing three straight three and outs against a Webster Schroeder offense that was averaging 32.4 points per game in its past five games. Brighton scored on its opening drive, an emphatic 14-play drive that lasted over seven minutes and ended with Hopkins running it in for a four-yard touchdown.
“We took them very seriously,” Heininger said of the Warriors. “We watched film all week, the captains had to step up and lead, communicating on defense, everything. We took them really seriously and it paid off.”
“It was huge,” Lian said of how his team jumped on Webster Schroeder early. “That was what we have been talking about all season. The games we’ve been able to start fast, we’ve been able to control. The games where we’ve started slow, we struggled.”
After the third three-and-out, Brighton had a two-play sequence that drastically swung the course of the game. The snap on the Webster Schroeder punt attempt went high, and resulted in a safety for the Bruins defense. The very next play, Clarence Bell took the kick return 60 yards to the house to make it 16-0 Brighton.
“That kick return, that’s a testament to our special teams and our special teams coach John Morton,” Lian explained. “He always has those guys ready for every scenario and every situation.”
“We have a lot of talent, and I think a lot of people know about Heininger, and our running backs, Justin Medina and Zach Rossignol. But we have a lot of other guys who are ready, like Clarence Bell, who when he had an opportunity to made a big play.”
As the first half ticked away, it looked like Webster Schroeder was about to strike before halftime. The Warriors had the ball for third and goal on the one-yard line, but back-to-back tackles for loss by the Brighton defense kept Webster Schroeder scoreless in the first half.
“To me, that was the game,” Lian said of the goal line stand. “Our defensive mindset has always been kind of a ‘bend, but don’t break’ philosophy. Last time we played Schroeder, we couldn’t do that. Everytime they got the ball down there, they finished, and that was something that we talked about a lot going into this week.”
The third quarter was all Webster Schroeder. The Bruins went three and out on all three of their offensive drives, and the Warriors got two touchdowns by senior wideout AJ Amico to cut the score to 16-12. A three-minute touchdown drive to open the fourth quarter that ended with a nine-yard catch and run by Hopkins for a score quickly helped Brighton take control back of the game with an 11-point lead.
“It’s always about staying neutral, we don’t get too high, we don’t get too low,” said Lian. When things were going our way in the first half, we challenged them to stay neutral because this was a great football team we were against. Webster Schroeder is an outstanding team, and we knew they were going to come back, we just had to make sure that we could weather the storm.”
“When they started coming back, we just kept saying that we bend but don’t break,” Hopkins explained. “It really keeps us together, we’re a brotherhood, a family. We just play for each other and keep on going.”
It was after that drive that Hopkins came away with his interception that set up the Heininger touchdown that put the game out of reach. Quarterback Daniel Hilfiker connected for a third touchdown to AJ Amico to make it 30-20 with three minutes left, but a few more long runs by Heininger on the game’s final drive officially ended it.
“I was really just trusting my blockers,” said Heininger of his fourth-quarter runs. “Running straight into their backs, getting downhill, I was just trying to get first down after first down and have them (Webster Schroeder) use their timeouts.”
“We challenged our players, said ‘it’s playoff time now’, said Lian about the message to his team a few weeks ago. “When these guys got to sectionals, it was a whole different level of intensity and practice every day and you saw it tonight.”
Brighton advances to the Section V Class A Regional Qualifier next weekend against East/World of Inquiry, the winner of Class A2.
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