By BOB CHAVEZ
HONEOYE FALLS — It didn’t take much to accurately describe the scoreless tie after one quarter of the Week 1 matchup between Canandaigua Academy and Honeoye Falls-Lima.
“It looked like the first quarter of the first game for a young team,” Canandaigua coach Jeff Welch said.
Indeed, it was pedestrian football for the first 12 minutes, but the Gray Wolves found the rhythm and the confidence to head home as 41-20 victors to open the 2026 football season.
“It comes with youth and a young team,” said Welch. “It’s good to face some adversity.”
Indeed, the adversity arrived early. The Gray Wolves opened on offense after receiving the opening kick, then went three and out. HF-L didn’t fare much better, going in reverse with consecutive false starts and a sack on 3rd and 20. Canandaigua lost a fumble on its next possession, then forced a turnover on downs before its third possession ended with yet another punt as the first quarter wound down.
And then, it happened. Peyton Fritz recovered the fumbled punt return to set the Gray Wolves up at the HF-L 41 to open the second quarter and 4 minutes later, sophomore quarterback Austin Kierst ran it in from 1 yard to give CA the lead.
HF-L coughed it up again on its next possession but forced a CA punt and the Cougars started at their own 12 but were forced to punt with 1:52 left in the first half after the Gray Wolves wisely used a pair of timeouts on defense to give themselves time to work before halftime.
CA started at the HF-L 31 following the punt and with 46 seconds left in the half, junior Aleksander Hawyrschuk took a short pass to the end zone from 17 yards out for a 14-0 halftime lead.
By now, there was plenty of juice in the game and the early jitters were fading. Not only for the Gray Wolves, but for HF-L as well.
The Cougars opened the second half with the ball and on the first play from scrimmage, Benny Feinberg hit Grady Goodberlet in stride down the sideline for a 53-yard pass that set HF-L up at the Canandaigua 3. Two plays later, Goodberlet was in for the TD and the HF-L defense forced a three-and-out to get the offense back on the field.
The Cougars crafted an impressive drive that was capped by Sam Oliver’s walk into the end zone with 6:56 left in the third. A 2-point conversion tied the score, 14-14.
“I think those two touchdowns woke us up,” said Welch.
The evidence: CA’s George Mirras fielded the ensuing kick at the 10, then waited patiently for his blockers to get in position. And when the opening appeared, the senior did not hesitate. He hit the jets for a 90-yard return that restored CA’s lead.
After that, the Gray Wolves forced another punt, then got a fumble recovery from Cormick Schaeffer, both of which led to Kierst TD runs of 44 and 2 yards.
And just like that, CA had a 35-14 lead.
“That kick return really sprung us,” said Welch.
Much like Welch saw with his young CA team, HF-L coach John Russ saw the same with his.
“We had about 30 seconds to enjoy that but the kick return really kind of deflated us,” he said. “The highs are great, but the lows are brutal.”
HF-L got back on the board with another Oliver TD run, this one from 10 yards out with 10:10 left but the Gray Wolves responded with a TD drive that ate nearly 7 minutes of the clock and Declan Cooney’s impressive grab with 3:14 left on 3rd-and-goal from the 8 iced the victory.
For Hawryschuk, it was simply a thrill to be back on the field. An injury limited his time last year so not only was he full of good health Friday night, he was full of energy. In addition to the early TD, he made several big plays on defense from his linebacker position.
“I was excited to be back and glad I was able to show it,” he said.
The junior finished with 30 rushing yards on 9 carries and Kierst completed 6 of 14 passes for 47 yards and rushed 14 times for 145 yards. He threw two TD passes and ran for two more. For HF-L, Feinberg completed 11 of 17 passes for 180 yards and Grady Goodberlet caught 6 passes for 81 yards.
Next, Canandaigua (1-0) plays its home opener on Friday against Batavia and HF-L (0-1) is on the road at Eastridge.
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