PITTSFORD — The quarterback of tomorrow turned into the quarterback of today for East/WOIS.
Freshman Trenton Vann admitted to some nerves heading into his first career varsity start for the Eagles, but his growing confidence in running the offense supported the work of a dominant defense that carried the Eagles to a 20-3 victory over Honeoye Falls-Lima in Saturday’s Section V Class B championship at St. John Fisher University’s Growney Stadium.
“A little bit,” Vann said when asked if he were nervous heading into Saturday’s game. “But I knew what I was doing. The coaches talked with me and they simplified things to make it easy for me.”
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Of course, this past week has been anything but simple for the Eagles. Their victory over Monroe in last week’s Class B semifinal was marred by a post-game fight that led to the suspension of a reported 14 players, 10 of whom were starters or typically saw regular playing time. Added to that was an injury to the non-throwing hand of regular quarterback, senior Taye Brown Jr., who wore a cast on his left hand for Saturday’s game and took several reps as a receiver and from the offensive backfield.
But the biggest impact of the suspensions came up front and coach James Vann and his staff put together an offensive line by shifting several players and calling on a couple more to make their first varsity starts. Senior D’Angelo Dixon moved back to the center position, sophomore Leisure Chapman made his first start, junior Andre Cleveland moved from linebacker to guard and junior Success Rackard joined senior and anchor Jamie Anderson to complete a unit that had no more than three or four practices to find their chemistry.
And as you might expect, it took a while. The Eagles turned the ball over on downs on their first possession and the second ended with an interception. Between those drives, the Cougars of HF-L put together a 25-yard drive that stalled at the East/WOIS 19-yard line but Hudson Reed’s 36-yard field goal with 2:43 left in the first quarter gave HF-L a 3-0 lead.
But that turned out to be the only points of the game of HF-L thanks to an East/WOIS defense that was relentless and physical. The Cougars had seven more possessions after Reed’s field goal, but they punted four times, threw an interception and turned the ball over on downs twice.
“It starts up front,” Vann said. “Anderson takes charge on the field and the other guys fly around.”
HF-L coach John Russ was minus the services of injured senior running back Brian Finn, so the Cougars turned to the feet of junior quarterback Benny Feinberg and sophomore Liam McClure. Both were able to pick up yardage here and there and even when Feinberg threw to top receiver Grady Goodberlet for gains, the Cougars couldn’t find much consistency on offense.
“We battled,” HF-L coach John Russ said. “We knew it was going to be tough and I loved where we were at the half. We tried to flip the momentum but I’m proud of the guys and the way they battled.”
Speaking of halftime, it was a 6-3 lead for East/WOIS thanks to a 2-yard TD plunge by senior James Mobley with 6:29 left in the second quarter. That’s why Russ and his staff were optimistic for the second half, especially after the HF-L defense forced a turnover on downs by East/WOIS to open the half.
The Cougars opened their first possession of the third quarter from their own 28 and got a big gain on a short pass to Goodberlet to convert a third-and-10, to the 44, but the drive ended three plays later when Ximeer Lattimore intercepted a pass on an HF-L halfback option play.
That set up the Eagles at their own 28 and this is when the East offense came alive in both confidence and execution. On second-and-9, Vann dropped back and found Mobley wide open on the left side. The pass play covered 43 yards to the HF-L 29 and four plays later, Mobley was in for his second TD of the game from 6 yards out for a 13-3 lead with 3:58 left in the third quarter.
The teams traded possessions before HF-L turned the ball over on downs at the East/WOIS 32 with 8:08 left in the game. That set up the final scoring drive of the game and while the 38-yard TD run by junior Caiden Boyce was nice, it was the nasty juke by sophomore Darius Weathers on a 14-yard gain to set up the TD that drew an audible gasp from the crowd.
The Boyce TD run with 4:44 left effectively clinched a second straight Section V title and seventh overall for the Eagles. It also brought to an end a tumultuous week that left the Eagles unsure of their future until Section V ruled on Wednesday that only individual players involved in last week’s incident would be suspended and not the entire team. The players suspended for Saturday’s game are eligible to return for next weekend’s Class B state quarterfinal game against the Section VI champion.
“I’m proud of these boys,” coach Vann said. “They battled for their brothers.”
Anderson, the anchor of the offensive and defensive lines for East/WOIS, said the opportunity to continue their football season was not being taken for granted.
“We had some bad decisions last week,” he said. “But we’re so grateful that we were able to continue. We faced some adversity but we were able to weather the storm.”
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