Maine-Endwell 35, Cazenovia 34
I'm a youngin, this just being my 5th year out of high school. I've seen quite a bit of sports at this level, football included, for someone my age. That being said...
Not sure if this was the craziest game I've ever been to, but it was certainly one of them.
Had every bit of drama you could hope for - a story line leading into it, a plot twist, a very competitive game, and a ballsy decision leading to a highly dramatic finish with a controversial ending. Not bad for upstate NY high school football.
Maine-Endwell was coming in to this game winners of 35 straight over the last 3 years. Cazenovia was looking to end that, of course, and it looked like they were going to get some help. The mid-week story was that 6 Maine-Endwell players violated a team rule and may or may not be playing come Saturday night. Caz had no such issues, and they jumped first when play started. After M-E QB Kyle Gallagher fumbled it away at their own 28, the Lakers took advantage. An 8 play drive that consisted of 6 Andrew Vogl carries culminated in a 1 yard plunge from QB Kevin Hopsicker, giving Caz a 7-0 lead just over 6 minutes in. Maine-Endwell responded by marching back up the field with a 9 play, 67 yard drive. 8 of them were runs, the lone pass being an 11 yard completion from Kyle to Adam Gallagher. The latter finished off the drive with a 9 yard score, tying it up at 7 with 1:45 left in the 1st. After M-E picked off a Hopsicker pass, they went the same amount of yardage with one less play, all runs this time. Kyle Gallagher rushed for 46 yards on 3 carries in that drive, and Colin LaSalle punched it in from 2 yards out, giving M-E its first lead at 14-7 four minutes into the 2nd. Caz responded quickly, needing only 2 plays to even up the score. Starting at their own 40, Hopsicker bolted for a 52 yard gain, being brought down by a defender who had to trail from the other side of the field to get him. Vogl finished it off with an 8 yard score about 30 seconds after M-E took the lead. The back & forth continued, with Maine-Endwell getting the lead right back on their next drive. A 10 play, 90 yard Kyle Gallagher-heavy drive assisted by a personal foul was just what the doctor ordered, apparently. He rushed for 86 yards on 5 carries in that drive alone, including a 33 yard TD scamper with 3:15 left in the half. Cazenovia started to drive back, but 3 penalties got the better of them, having to punt it away in the waning seconds.
Cazenovia started the 2nd half in the same manner as the 1st - strong. After trading 3 & outs and an 8 yard Maine-Endwell punt that gave the Lakers the ball at the M-E 48, they went to work. A big run by Vogl set up a 5 yard Hopsicker score, tying it back up again at 21 with 7:50 left in the 3rd. They couldn't get over the hump and take the lead, though. After getting the ball back, they were forced into a 4th & 21, and an M-E defender got a hand on the ensuing punt, giving the home team on the scoreboard strong field position. The Gallaghers linked up again, with Kyle hitting Adam from 38 yards out, putting M-E back up 28-21 with 3:05 left in the 3rd. The next drive was wacky. Vogl & Hopsicker had big runs, catapulting the drive deep into M-E territory. However, the drive stalled, and on 4th down at the 9, the Lakers lined up for a field goal. Whether it was going to be a fake or not, we just don't know. Hopsicker was the holder, so one can only assume. However, the snap went into the ground and he had trouble corralling it, so he got up and tried to make a play. He was brought down, but they were given renewed life when a face mask penalty was called on the tackle. M-E's coach was livid, and he had a point. He contested that Hopsicker picked his knee up to retrieve the ball, then dropped it back down to try & hold it, then picked it back up to carry it. The refs didn't hear his case, but I have the advantage of looking through a camera lens... he had a beef. The ball moved down to the 4, but it was still 4th down. They went for it, using a little misdirection pass play. It fell incomplete... but pass interference was called, moving it down to the 2. With a new rule implemented this year, the PI penalty didn't make it an automatic first down. Therefore, for the first time in my days, I saw 3 tries at 4th & goal. This last one was an untimed down, and Hopsicker was brought down inches shy of the goal line (remember that).
Maine-Endwell had their work cut out for them, starting inside their own 1. They didn't get anywhere. A fumble on the snap recovered by Caz gave the Lakers the ball at the 2 yard line yet again. This time, they made good with it, getting a 2 yard TD run by Vogl to forge the game's 4th tie with 11:52 left. Led by Kyle Gallagher, M-E pushed back down the field, but Caz picked off a pass deep in their own territory to avoid the crisis. However, they remained pinned deep, and even a good punt with a negative return gave Maine-Endwell the ball at Caz' 41. On 3rd & 11 from the 12, the Gallaghers connected again, Kyle hitting Adam for a 12 yard score, giving M-E yet another lead at 35-28 with 4:45 left. Cazenovia started at their own 35, and more of a heavy dose of Vogl & Hopsicker helped march them down the field. Over the first 5 plays of the drive, Vogl carried 3 times for 30 yards and Hopsicker added 20 on 2 to get to M-E's 20 with 2 and a half to go. The drive looked like it was about to stall after that, with M-E's defense forcing a 4th & 7 at their 17. However, Vogl took the option toss from Hopsicker, made a move and a burst, and found himself in the end zone, putting Caz down 35-34 with just over a minute to play. You could either take the pretty much sure extra point to tie it up, or go balls to the wall and try to get the W. The Laker coaching staff was feeling lucky, punk, and lined up to go for 2. After the good old-fashioned drama of a coaching chess match, with back to back timeouts, Caz still lined up to go for 2. Hopsicker drove forward, and he was brought down less than 6 inches shy of goal. The Caz players, coaches, fans, and whoever else you can think of were in an uproar over the call. Calling the refs cheaters, yelling at the guys who were doing the chains on the way out (because they made the call, obviously...), saying some other things even I won't repeat, which I guess is to be expected with emotions running so high... but again, I saw it through the lens. It was a great effort by Hopsicker and a great effort by the M-E defense, and to me, it looked like the ref on top of the play made a bang-bang call correctly. Props to that guy. M-E recovered the onside kick and kneeled on it to extend the W streak to 36, advancing to the state semifinals. Hell of a game!
#ByTheNumbers - Kyle Gallagher carried the load for the Sect IV representative, Maine-Endwell. He only went 3/10 in the air for 61 yards along with an INT, but 2 of the completions were TDs. He did his damage on the ground for the most part, running for a TD and 218 yards on 18 carries. On the other side of the ball, Andrew Vogl was a workhorse, getting 33 carries and amassing 243 rushing yards with 3 scores on the night. Kevin Hopsicker didn't do much in the air, only completing 1 pass, but he carried the ball 24 times for 150 yards and the other 2 Caz TDs. Cazenovia took the defeat, even though they outgained M-E 389-365 on the night.
Neat-o Stat of the Night - Kyle Gallagher ran for 218 yards, but he must be the type of guy who likes even numbers, despite the fact that his jersey number is 7. In the 1st and 3rd quarters, he only rushed for 19 yards on 6 carries. However, in the 2nd quarter, he had 132 rushing yards on 8 carries, and he ran the ball 4 times for 67 yards in the 4th quarter.
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