2025 Connolly Cup Finalists

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Connolly Cup is one of the most prestigious awards among Western New York High School Football, given to the area's best skill player annually at the end of the season. The following 10 athletes have been named finalists for the award and the winner will be named on Tuesday, December 9th.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>RB [player_tooltip player_id='747256' first='Jimmy' last='Valentine'] (Bennett) - Valentine came into 2025 as a well known sleeper candidate. He played the backup role for the previous three seasons but proved to be a workhorse as a senior running for almost 1,700 yards and 22 TDs.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>RB [player_tooltip player_id='1212763' first='Kaivohn' last='Pitts'] (Health Sciences) - Pitts finished his senior year with 1,717 yards and 24 TDs; his 2nd straight 1,000 yard season. Great numbers for a RB in a crowded backfield.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>QB [player_tooltip player_id='1742268' first='Kalaugn' last='Ford'] (McKinley) - Ford is a first time finalist and for the second straight year, he has led the Macks in both passing and rushing. He has thrown for over 1,000 yards and ran for 1,000 more in both campaigns.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>RB [player_tooltip player_id='778700' first='Elijah' last='Kimble'] (Canisius) - This is Kimble's third time being a finalist, already cementing himself as not only the best RB in WNY but one of the best players in all of NYS.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>QB [player_tooltip player_id='473979' first='Justus' last='Kleitz'] (Iroquois) - Kleitz is a two time finalist. While it is no surprise for him to be on this list, he is a front runner to win the award as he has broken several Section VI and WNY career passing records.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>QB [player_tooltip player_id='1624567' first='Mac' last='Capen'] (Newfane) - As a QB, Capen led all of Section VI in rushing with over 1,900 yards and 33 scores en route to Newfane's first ever Section VI title.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>QB [player_tooltip player_id='747255' first='Brady' last='Waring'] (Eden/North Collins) - While Kleitz was breaking career records this season, Waring led Section VI in every major passing category; throwing for 2,623 yards and 41 TDs to just 5 INTs. He also broke a NYS record of 9 passing TDs in one game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>ATH [player_tooltip player_id='1241972' first='Chase' last='Bonta'] (Jamestown) - Heading into this year, I felt Bonta was the heavy favorite to win the Connolly Cup. He came close to winning it in 2024, running for almost 2,000 yards and racking up over 100 tackles as a LB. In his senior season, he broke free for 1,700 yards and another 100 stops.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>QB [player_tooltip player_id='501394' first='Trent' last='Buttles'] (St. Francis) - Buttles is new to the Buffalo area as he transferred from Rochester but it was well documented how good he was going to be. He accounted for over 2,500 yards of the Red Raiders offense and almost 30 TDs while making 87 tackles and 3 INTs as a Safety.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>RB [player_tooltip player_id='1202404' first='Tyrone' last='Clark Jr'] (St. Francis) - Clark was a finalist last season when he was at Lackawanna. Now with greater competition in the Monsignor Martin league, Tyrone has proved to be one of the best overall players in the area.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->