Twelve months after getting stopped in its first trip to the state Class AA semifinals, the Baldwinsville football team tripped up in that same round, overwhelmed by Rush-Henrietta’s main attraction, Ashton Broyld.
Dominating the game with both with his passing and running ability, Broyld, a 6-4, 235-pound senior quarterback, led the way as the Section V champion Royal Comets took out the Bees 55-28 Saturday night at Marina Auto Stadium in Rochester.
All told, Broyld completed 10 of 17 passes for 300 yards and two touchdowns, and also ran for 136 yards on 15 carries. As a whole, Rush-Henrietta piled up 606 yards of total offense, a record for a state playoff game.
B’ville arrived in this round convinced that, unlike its 2009 defeat to North Tonawanda (when star running back Malik Burks sat out the first half and the Bees never recovered), it had all the pieces in place for success. But it didn’t have Broyld, whose astonishing physical presence – and ability – would make the primary difference.
At least the Bees had the opening statement. Tyler Rouse gained 11 yards on the game’s first two plays. Then the sophomore tore through a large hole on the right side and ran, untouched, 66 yards to the end zone. Mark Stanard’s extra point made it 7-0, and the game wasn’t even 90 seconds old.
Yet it took less than 90 seconds for Rush to answer, thanks to Broyld. He quickly moved the Royal Comets to the Bees’ 35, then took off on a dazzling TD run where he made a terrific move at the 25, changing direction to foil the last B’ville defender who could get him.
Later in the period, the Royal Comets put together a 69-yard march, mixing in throws and passes as Broyld got many of his backs and receivers involved before going the final three yards himself on a bootleg, putting Rush ahead 13-7 as the PAT was hooked.
Antonio Peck promptly returned the ensuing kickoff 50 yards deep into Comets territory, setting up a short drive that, again, was all on the ground. Rouse finished it off with a one-yard scoring run and, when Stanard’s PAT sailed through, B’ville was back in front 14-13 – but that would be the last lead.
Broyld stayed red-hot, as he found Devon Maio on a 53-yard pass that put the Comets at the Bees’ three. Again, Broyld scored the TD, from three yards out, and Maio took a reverse in for two points as Rush reclaimed the lead, 21-14.
The next Rush possession meant the next Rush touchdown. Broyld this time made a 17-yard run to move to the Bees’ 20, then found Maio in the end zone two plays later, the scoring strike making it 27-14, and making things urgent for B’ville, even though the game was only in the middle of the second quarter.
So the Bees moved inside the Comets’ 16 late in the half, only to get hurt by a holding penalty on Casey Colligan’s scramble to the one-yard line. Instead of first-and-goal, the ball went back to the 34, and Christian Harris intercepted Colligan’s long pass on the next play.
In a matter of two plays, Rush made it 35-14. From the Comets’ 25, Broyld threw long across the middle to Maio, and when the Bees’ secondary got mixed up, he outran the rest of the defenders to the end zone, a 75-yard dagger that, combined with a two-point pass to Chauncey Scissum, expanded the deficit to 35-14.
That’s where it remained at halftime, only because an illegal block penalty kept Harris from returning a punt 60 yards for yet another TD in the last minute. Broyld, by himself, accounted for 291 yards in the half – 222 in the air, 69 on the ground.
B’ville did gain a small amount of optimism when Eric Tommarello intercepted Broyld’s deep pass early in the third quarter, but went nowhere with it. When Rush got the ball back, Broyld offered another spectacular play when, from the Bees’ 33, he ran straight through two missed tackles and sprinted to the end zone, his fourth TD run of the night.
Rush tacked on another TD late in the period, and it never had to punt until the fourth quarter, when the game was well in hand. Colligan did provide some late highlights when he found Ben Paprocki on a screen pass that, with a good move and Paprocki’s speed, turned into a 60-yard touchdown. He also found Shay Sargent on a 19-yard scoring pass. Rouse finished with 171 yards on 30 carries.
The Bees finish at 10-2, and have enjoyed a two-year record of 21-3. Though Rouse has two more years to display his talents, the likes of Colligan, Peck, Tommarello, Stanard, Parker Kiff, Antonio Peck, Dave Middlemore, Nate Stoughtenger, Steve Mitchell, Ryland Jennings, Nick Robinson, Jake Margrey, Matt Moreland and Vito Zona, the heart of B’ville’s championship run, will prove difficult to replace.
