Lakemen trounce Gowanda, 48-0

GOWANDA —

Wilson Lakemen head coach Bill Atlas said he felt confident his team could rush the ball in Friday night’s road opener against Gowanda, but the results were even better than he expected.

Senior running back Justin Slango ran for daylight with four touchdowns and fellow senior Chris Reid added two scores and six extra point kicks, sparking the visiting Lakemen past Gowanda, 48-0, in the Section VI football opener for both schools.

Slango had a career-day with nine rushes for 200 yards and the four TDs. Reid finished with three rushes for 103 yards, two TDs and was 6-for-7 on his extra-point tries.

Receiving, Lakemen senior Joe Brown caught two passes for 62 yards. Senior Nickolas Bell added a 20-yard touchdown reception from junior quarterback Tim Walch, who finished 5-for-7 for 88 yards and a score.

“I’ve got nothing bad to say,” coach Atlas said. “I thought we played real well. Going in, we knew we’d be able to run the ball, but this was above what I expected.”

The Lakemen offense was clicking on all cylinders throughout. Their only punt came on their final possession late in the game and Slango rocketed it 50 yards.

Defensively, Wilson was led by senior Steve Szuba with nine tackles. Seniors Colin Spatorico and Geoff Lort added eight stops apiece, while senior Brian Kerwin had seven tackles and a sack.

Also for the Wilson defense, senior Tayler Thilke had two interceptions and junior Kevin Daunce added a fumble recovery

Buffalo E. 36, Newfane 6

BUFFALO — The Newfane Panthers’ start to their 2012 football season Friday afternoon wasn’t as hoped. At least they did better than the scoreboard at the Johnnie B. Wiley Sports Pavilion.

Without a functioning scoreboard for nearly three quarters of play, fans were kept informed as best possible by the public address announcer. By the time it was functioning, the Panthers trailed 30-0, en route to a 36-6 loss.

Big plays and defensive pressure were the recurring themes in the game. The Panthers were victimized by several 20-plus yard plays and the defense couldn’t get through to the East quarterbacks. The Newfane QB tandem of Josh Kneeland and Jake Bow were under pressure all afternoon.

A promising first quarter saw the Panthers trailing 6-0 when they began marching downfield toward the East end zone. Back-to-back encroachment calls set up Newfane with first-and-10 at the East 25-yard-line.

However, two plays later Kneeland’s pass to the right side of the end zone was picked off when an East defender stepped in front of Kneeland’s target.

East took over at its own 3-yard line and after a 12-yard gain, Dajuan Quarles took a pitch and ran 85 yards into the end zone, breaking three clusters of tackles — he was almost caught at midfield — along the way.

A failed two-point conversion kept the score at 12-0 and a penalty forced East to kick off from its own 25-yard line.

The undeterred Panthers then set off on another drive, breaking into East territory again, but the drive stalled at the East 30. Facing third and 16 at the East 37, Jake Bow’s pass to the right sideline for Chris Hannah sailed over his head and fell incomplete.

East took over at its own 20-yard line and plays of 31 and 22 yards brought them to the Newfane 27. That set up a 27-yard touchdown pass to Julian Hodge, who had no defender within 10 yards of him. A two-point conversion gave East a 20-0 lead.

Connor Sears, one of the bright spots in the game, started off the third quarter with a nice 15-yard carry, turning to his left to create space after the East defense sealed off his intended route, and setting up a first down near midfield. The drive stalled, and East took over at its own 48 with about 9 minutes to play in the quarter.

It took East two plays to find the end zone, a 16-yard pass completion followed by a 36-yard completion and run to paydirt.

On its next possession, Newfane recovered loose balls on back-to-back plays then Kneeland was sacked to force fourth-and-20 at the Panther 14. A high snap and low punt game East terrific field position, starting at the Newfane 37.Benefiting from excellent protection, the East quarterback Jevante Glover found Quarles for 22 yards, then kept the ball himself on the next play, running up the middle 14 yards to the end zone.

Newfane finally broke through late in the fourth quarter. Kneeland took the snap on a first-and-five from the Newfane 37 and found Bow open on the right side. He tossed a perfect strike, hitting Bow near the East 30, and Bow scampered into the end zone for a 63-yard touchdown.

“Everybody had a big game for them,” Nagel said. “Their QB ran for a ton of yards and he had a great day passing.”

Next up, the Panthers will host Depew at 2 p.m. next Saturday.

Akron 34, Medina 22

AKRON — Moving on top to stay with a touchdown in the final seconds of the first half, Akron went on to defeat Medina in a non-league football season opener for both teams Friday night.

Trailing 14-13, Akron scored on a six yard pass from quarterback Austin Mietz to Connor Ladd with just 1.8 seconds to go in the first half. Ladd, who also had back-to-back pass recpetions from Mietz of 11 and 41 yards to key the drive, added the extra point kick giving the Tigers a 20-14 lead at the half.

Akron roared away to a commanding 34-14 advantage by scoring two touchdowns in the first six minutes of the third quarter on runs of 15 and eight yards by tailback Austen Lauricella. A 38-yard Mietz to Evn Erickson pass completion set up the first score and a fumble recovery by Gowah Abrams at the Medina 35 set the stage for the second tally.

Akron also got off to a fast start grabbing a 13-0 first quarter lead on a one-ard touchdown urun by Mietz, which was set up by a Medina fumbe at the Mustangs 14 yrd line, and two Ladd field goals of 31 and 32 yards.

A 54-yard pass completion from quarterback Jason Hellwig to Lonnie Taylor down to the Akron 12 got the Medina offense rolling. Three plays later Kyle Barna scored on a one yard run to cut the deficit to 13-6.

Alden 42, Barker/R-H 13

ALDEN — Alden quarterback Brian Stoldt completed 10-of-14 passes for 158 yards and three touchdowns to lead the way as the defending champion Bulldogs posted a big victory over Barker/Roy-Hart,which was making its debut as an associate member of the Section VI Class B East Division.

Barker/Roy-Hart quarterback Jacob Haight threw touchdown passes of 30 yards to Brett Cole in the third quarter and 30 yards to Tucker Ruhlen in the fourth. He added the extra point kick after the second tally. Cole had two catches for 63 yards and Ruhlen two for 41 yards.

Defensively for Barker/Roy-Hart Travis Kelkenberg made 12 tackles, Haight 10 and Nick Burdick seven.

Barker/Roy-Hart next hosts Medina at 7 p.m. Friday in Middleport.

Union-Sun & Journal managing editor John Hopkins contributed the Newfane-Buffalo East report.