by TYLER HATHAWAY
HENRIETTA, N.Y– Resilience has defined Brighton all season.
The Bruins entered the year coming off of a state semifinal appearance but had a regular season that featured a mix of injuries to key players and a stretch in October that saw Brighton lost two of its final three games.
“We had a lot of ups and downs during the regular season, said Lian. “We learned a lot of lessons from our two losses, and I think that helped steeled us. It helped us grow up.”
So when the opposing Class A2 champion East/World of Inquiry Eagles took a kick return 70 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter of the Section V Class A State Qualifier on Friday night, Lian and his team remained calm as the offense took the field. Brighton was leading 21-14 and in a position it was comfortable in. The Bruins have been through worse, and held one-score leads early in the fourth quarters of both their semifinal and championship winning game in the A1 tournament.
And like they had already done twice this postseason, the Bruins’ offense delivered a crushing possession to help ice the game. A seven-minute drive that featured two fourth-down conversions and went over 60 yards ended in a Patrick Newcomer 26-yard field goal, and an interception with 40 seconds left by senior defensive back Patrick Rohr sealed the deal in a 24-14 Brighton (9-2) win. The Bruins will be playing in the state quarterfinals for the second season in a row.
“We’re just really happy that we get another week together,” said Lian. “This is a great group. In New York, you don’t get to play as many regular season games as you do in other places in the country. So anytime you can extend it, it’s not only great for our team and great for our program, but great for the continuity and great for us to continue to build.”
“It’s great,” said Rohr about clinching a spot in states. ”I mean, we get more time with our brothers, and that’s just our goal every week is to just keep playing with each other for as long as we can.”
The win ends Section V postseason play for the Bruins after beating Churchville-Chili (5-3), Irondequoit (8-1), and Webster Schroeder (6-4) in addition to the Eagles (8-3). This came after getting the No. 4 seed in a Class A1 bracket that saw five teams enter the postseason with a record of at least 5-2.
“I believe we had to play some against some of the best competition in New York,” Rohr explained. “We grew closer because of it, and we’ve gotten better every week.”
“Class A1 football this year was a bear,” said Lian. “Every team was great. So all season long, we were getting tested and our young guys were forced to grow up. And I think that’s a big reason by the time we got to sectionals, in addition to being healthy, that gauntlet of a regular season really put us in a position to make a run in the playoffs.”
After each teams traded touchdowns on their opening drives of the first half and the defenses held strong, the Bruins produced a 55-yard touchdown drive on their first possession of the second half. The possession featured a throw and catch to Rohr on third and long to move the chains early in the drive and a big run by Justin Medina late in the drive that helped set up a 5-yard rushing touchdown by Zachary Rossignol to break a 7-7 tie.
“It was huge,” Lian said about how his team opened the second half. “I mean, they’re (the Eagles) an outstanding team. They’re champions. Anytime you can get any kind of momentum against a team like that, it’s huge.”
East/World of Inquiry responded with a long drive that lasted nearly six minutes and saw the Eagles have first and 10 from the Brighton 11-yard line. But the Bruins defense held, and Rohr’s first interception of the game on fourth and long gave Brighton the ball back. In total, the defense had three interceptions and held an Eagles offense who entered Friday’s game averaging 40.3 points per game in the postseason to seven points.
“We had a lull in the second half last week against Webster Schroeder, when we let them hit big plays against us,” said Lian. “So it was kind of learning lessons from things you mess up. Our focus this week to limit those things, and our guys had a great week of practice. Our defensive staff and Andrew Fox, our defensive coordinator, put together a great game plan, and our guys executed.”
“We’ve stayed hungry,” said Rohr. “We watched film all week.”
The Bruins didn’t score on their next drive, but key runs by Medina and Rossignol as well as a improvised decision to fake a punt by Matthew Heininger deep in their own territory helped Brighton burn nearly seven minutes off of the clock.
“He’s the greatest player in the history of this program,” said Lian. “I said it before, and when Matt had an opportunity to make a play, he took it, and I trust everything that kid does.”
Controlling the pace of the game and putting together lengthy drives was something Lian and his staff keyed in on leading up to the game. Brighton had possession for nearly 34 minutes of a 48-minute long game.
“When you play a team that’s explosive, and has many great athletes that are that dynamic, you want to control the time of possession,” Lian explained. “It was definitely a focus going in. I’m just really pleased that our guys were able to do it.”
The defense forced its second turnover of the game when Leo Hopkins intercepted a deflected pass on a third and one and took it back 65 yards for a touchdown to make it 21-7 with eight minutes left.
After the kick return touchdown by Darius Weathers returned the game to a one-score game, runs by Rossignol, Medina, and Heininger helped Brighton convert two fourth downs and milk seven of the game’s remaining eight minutes, with the drive ending in a game-sealing field goal.
“That, I mean, that’s the culture in Brighton,” Lian said of his team’s ability to run the football in the final moments of games. “It’s been our culture for a long time. Anybody who’s followed us knows, that when we want to close out games, we have a lot of faith in our run game, but that’s what it is in Brighton.”
Rossignol ended his night with 30 carries for 138 yards and a touchdown. Medina finished with 17 carries for 91 rushing yards and had five tackles on defense. Heininger had six tackles including two tackles for loss in addition to a few fourth-down converting runs on offense. Clarence Bell had a three-yard touchdown run. Amari Snowden had six tackles, one of which was for a loss.
East’s opening drive touchdown was a 39-yard passing touchdown from quarterback Taye Brown to freshman Legacy Taylor.
Brighton finished with 251 total rushing yards on 61 carries.
“When you gotta get the yards, you gotta run the football, you gotta get inside, play big boy football, and everybody in a Brighton uniform knows that,” said Lian.
The Bruins advance to the NYS Class A Far West Regional, and await the Section VI Class A winner, either McKinley or Health Sciences/Buffalo Academy of Science/Global Concepts.
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