For at least one day, West Genesee football climbed out of the darkness.
Having won just one combined game in the 2015 and 2016 seasons, the Wildcats matched that meager total in a thrilling 13-12 victory over Nottingham in Saturday’s Kickoff Classic at the Carrier Dome.
“We’ve been through so much,” said WG head coach Joe Corley. “These kids have fought so hard, they believe in themselves and each other, and found a way to get it done.
“It really feels good to win one,” said Scott Cotter, whose pair of interceptions was just one of several key factors in the game’s outcome.
Ultimately, the Wildcats’ deliverance came through a pair of well-timed pass connections between Liam Barry and Ben Rustay, a clutch kick from Brendan Hammerle plus a defense that continually came through with clutch stops and turnovers.
And it all blended together late in the fourth quarter.
WG was trailing, 12-6, but placed at Nottingham’s 23-yard line with 2:55 to play. Then Barry rolled out of the pocket, ran left and threw down to the end zone, where Rustay outfought a Nottingham defender and grabbed the ball for the touchdown.
Originally, the Wildcats lined up for a two-point conversion to try and break the 12-12 tie. But after spotting the Bulldogs’ defensive formation, WG called a time-out, and brought in Hammerle to attempt an extra point, his first kick of the season. It flew through the uprights.
“That’s a lot of pressure on a kicker,” said Corley. “To make that kick was tremendous.”
Even with that, the game wasn’t settled. Nottingham tried to drive down the field, but Cotter, who already had an interception, picked off Jason Howard again with 2:19 left at the Wildcats’ 40. One more defensive stop clinched WG’s long-awaited victory.
Even before the season started, Corley acknowledged that his defense was ahead of the offense in terms of quality and development, and the first quarter bore this out, the Wildcats unable to get a first down yet keeping the game 0-0 with a pair of stops.
When Kobe Paris recovered a botched snap on the first play of the second quarter at WG’s 25, Nottingham had a chance to pull in front, but again the Wildcats’ defense turned them back. However, the Bulldogs did convert on its next possession, mixing runs and passes until Jalin Hudson scored from three yards out.
As the Bulldogs aimed to stretch its lead, Cotter picked off Jason Howard and returned it 49 yards into Nottingham territory. On the last play of the half, Barry, from the Nottingham 24, found Rustay cutting across the middle at the 10 and Rustay battled his way into the end zone, tying it 6-6.
Now possessing all of the momentum, WG gave it right back at the start of the third quarter. Hudson’s 21-yard run on third-and-19 launched a Nottingham drive that covered more than five minutes and ended with Abdulmalik Abdi running 16 yards for the TD, scrambling down the sideline and jumping from the five to launch past the goal line.
Still, the Wildcats had a chance, something it rarely got late in games a season ago. Christian Rossi’s interception in the last minute of the period again kept Nottingham from pulling away, and WG would get two good chances in the fourth quarter to pull it out.
Nottingham stopped one possible scoring chance with a fourth-down pass incompletion at the 23, but a stop and a poor punt gave the Wildcats another short field, and Barry, Rustay and Hammerle made sure WG didn’t squander this chance.
Corley said his players had earned the right to enjoy this victory, but the Wildcats knew a much tougher test looms next Friday when it goes to Alibrandi Stadium to face defending Section III Class AA champion CBA, who in that same Kickoff Classic last Sunday shut out Henninger 41-0.
