by TYLER HATHAWAY
ROCHESTER, N.Y– Prior to this season, cross-town rivals Irondequoit and Eastridge hadn’t played against each other in sectionals since 2014.
“Our kids don’t even remember that game we played,” said Irondequoit head coach Dan Fichter.
To say their showdown on Thursday night was worth the wait is an understatement. The Eagles got four touchdowns from senior quarterback Ryan Jiang, including one in double overtime on fourth and goal, as No. 6 seed Irondequoit (3-5) scraped out a 32-26 win over No. 3 seed Eastridge (3-5) in the opening round of the Section V Class A2 tournament.
“That’s as even as a football game as it comes, right?” said Fichter. “You can’t get any more even than that. (Jiang) falls across, could have gone the other way, and we’d be playing another overtime. It was just a great football game.”
The win snapped a four-game losing streak for an Irondequoit team that only has eight seniors out of 36 players on its roster.
“We’re a really young team, and we’ve been waiting all year for us to turn it around,” Fichter explained. “We played a really tough schedule. And these kids answered the bell. Being down, being up, all back and forth. I’m so proud of them. They grew up tonight.”
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After each team turned the ball over in the first overtime, the Eagles’ defense made a stand on fourth and one that got them the ball needing any points to win the game.
Irondequoit got to a fourth and goal on the one yard line and originally sent the kicking team out. But after Eastridge called a timeout, the offense came back out onto the field.
“I asked my guys what they wanted to do,” said Fichter. “They wanted to score. This is a team that’s run by the team, not the coaches. They run this. It’s a bunch of young guys that were ready to win.”
Eastridge had the ball deep in Irondequoit territory with less than five minutes left in regulation looking to take the lead. The Lancers moved the ball as far as the 10-yard line, but a tackle by Jadore Santiago on fourth down shut down the drive.
With less than 30 seconds left, Eastridge had the ball again in Irondequoit territory but an interception by Luis Lopez helped the Eagles get the game into overtime. All told, the Eagles finished the night with three fourth down stops, three interceptions (two by Lopez, one by Liam West), and a blocked punt by Myles Kedley.
“Our young linebackers, and (Luis) Lopez, our safety are unbelievable,” said Fichter. “They made big plays. That’s what we’ve been waiting for in our defense.”
Jiang completed 7-of-14 passes for 88 yards and a touchdown, which was a 54-yard screen pass to Jayden Nelson. Jiang scored three rushing touchdowns on the goal line. Nelson ran the ball 23 times for 67 yards. Josh Barr made five catches for 87 yards and had two pass break-ups on defense. Kieran Stenzal ran 17 times for 76 yards and had seven tackles. Kedley led the defense with 14 tackles, six of which were for a loss. Mason McCullough had a dozen tackles, with six being tackles for loss. Noah Panzardi had 11 tackles. Lopez added four tackles.
“For a young team, (this win) is unbelievable,” Fichter said. “This is what you need. When we first took over the program we needed a win to get things going. This is the same scenario. We had to win one for us to believe. We’ve been able to move the ball on teams, just haven’t been able to cash in because we were young and didn’t understand it yet. We just grew up.”
For Eastridge, quarterback Ryder Froman threw a touchdown to Kenyen Scott and ran for two more. Running back Joshua Cotton ran for over 200 yards and scored two touchdowns. Myles Halmond had an interception.
Thursday was the first time that Irondequoit and Eastridge played since Week 1 of 2024.
“These kids grew up and joined a tradition that is gonna live forever,” said Fichter. “The Eastridge and Irondequoit rivalry is awesome. We should always play it.”
Irondequoit advances to the Class A2 semifinals and will host No. 7 seed Greece Athena next week. Date and time of the game has yet to be announced.
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