If the Bishop Ludden football team’s trip north to face Sandy Creek Friday night was a preview of a possible post-season showdown in the local Class D ranks, the Gaelic Knights have to feel good about its chances, for several reasons.
During the state no. 12-ranked Gaelic Knights’ 33-20 road victory over the state no. 9-ranked Comets, it showed that not only could it make the big plays when needed, it could absorb the best blows from a quality opponent.
In this case, that meant dealing with Sandy Creek’s star running back, Joe Benedict, who burned Ludden often during last year’s meeting that ended 55-49 in the Comets’ favor.
Here, Benedict threatened to do the same when he sprinted 77 yards for a touchdown late in the first quarter right after Gaelic Knights quarterback Sh’ikem Lee threw an interception.
But Lee more than redeemed himself in the last minute of the period when, pinned at his own five, he threw deep – and found Joe Connor, who completed a 95-yard dash to the end zone.
They went to the second quarter 6-6, and midway through that period Ludden moved in front for good on Lee’s second TD pass, 23 yards to Ze’vion Derby.
Minutes later, Derby struck again, this time blocking a Comets punt to set up the Gaelic Knights deep in Sandy Creek territory. Two plays later, Lee, from the 22, found Connor in the end zone.
Benedict scored from eight yards out late in the half, but after recovering a Ludden fumble, the Comets’ attempt to pull even was thwarted when the Gaelic Knights intercepted Logan Haynes in the end zone right before intermission.
Still, Ludden knew a 19-12 lead was far from safe, and its defense stepped up with a key third-quarter stop that set up a long scoring drive, Lee mixing his passes with runs from Tamir Rowser before finding Se’vaughn Williams on a seven-yard scoring strike, plus a two-point pass.
Just before the third quarter ended, Benedict, who finished with 257 yards on 22 carries, took off on his second long TD run of the night, covering 64 yards, and added a conversion that made it 27-20 with one period left.
Things were still that way when, with 8:01 to play, Lee, from his own 20, threw deep – and again found Connor, who dashed the remaining 80 yards to a clinching score.
While Ludden improved to 3-0, West Genesee, in its attempt to get to 2-1 on the season, put up a great fight in its home opener against Fayetteville-Manlius, but were victimized by too many big plays from the Hornets – and especially tailback Mitch Seabury in a 35-26 defeat.
A week earlier, Seabury had run for 341 yards and six touchdowns in an F-M win over Henninger. Now he set out to hurt the Wildcats’ defense, and did so with a first-quarter scoring run of 16 yards.
WG countered with a drive of its own that Dan Purcell finished with a six-yard scoring run that, with Brendan Hammerle’s extra point, tied it 7-7.
With 5:27 left in the half, the Wildcats seized a 13-7 lead on Liam Barry’s scoring pass to John Northrop, only to miss the conversion. F-M now provided the answer as Seabury again scored, from 18 yards out, and a successful PAT pushed the Hornets to a 14-13 lead that it kept until the break.
Most of the third quarter went scoreless, but F-M pushed its lead to 21-13, leading to a Wildcats drive that Barry capped by going to his favorite receiver, Ben Rustay, on a 20-yard scoring pass with 9:36 left.
Though plenty of time remained to get the ball back, WG went for two points and a tie, and were stopped. That proved more costly when F-M gave it Seabury again, and he took off on a 47-yard TD run barely a minute after Rustay’s score.
The extra point made it 28-19, and combined with a Hornets goal-line stand in the final period, it thwarted WG’s chances, though Barry still threw another 20-yard scoring strike to Rustay before Seabury clinched it for F-M thanks to a 62-yard scoring run with less than two minutes left.
WG now has to face 3-0 Central Square next Friday at Mike Messere Field, just as Ludden would aim for its fourth consecutive win in another trip north, this time to face Watertown IHC.
