Week 1 Standouts

<p>Each week, I will attend a few games over the weekend, from both varsity and JV. Here I will give a game summary and player breakdowns from the Week 1 matchups I saw.</p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Niagara Falls @ Niagara Wheatfield</h2>   <p>What started off as a sloppy offensive showing, turned out to be an exciting thriller in the end. Niagara Wheatfield hosted cross-town rival Niagara Falls in a non divisional matchup. A game in which the Wolverines were in control for 47 of the 48 minutes of the game starting with their opening drive when first year varsity QB John Smith hit WR Jameir Vincent on a 48 yard bomb that set up a 2-yard TD run by [player_tooltip player_id='2150173' first='Jaylen' last='McMillan']. Then it was all defense on both sides as Niagara Wheatfield would register a safety and a pair of INTs. Following a Niagara Wheatfield TD run by Cam Wolf, Niagara Falls regained the lead with a 90 yard kick return by [player_tooltip player_id='2202822' first='Kaleb' last='Poole'] putting the Falls up 14-9 at half. That's where the game would stay until late in the 4th quarter when a special teams blunder gave Niagara Wheatfield excellent field position and a chance to close out the game. With 37 seconds to go on the clock, Falcons QB [player_tooltip player_id='1923497' first='Joseph' last='Chmaj'], who was a one-man offensive machine, found Matt Bigelow in the corner of the endzone for the go ahead score. Down 15-14, Niagara Falls did attempt a strong comeback getting the ball to the Wheatfield 9 yard line but the Wolves would miss the 26-yard field goal with 8 seconds remaining.</p>   <p><strong>Player of the Game</strong></p>    <p class="text-gray-700">There were some late game heroics from the Niagara Wheatfield offense but all that would be moot without the Falcons defensive performance. Niagara Falls registered just over 100 yards of offense but in the first half, it was Prophet's 2 INTs that would eventually seal the fate for the Wolverines.</p>    <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Amherst @ West Seneca East</h2>   <p>West Seneca East came into this game heavily favored over the rebuilding Amherst program. In the beginning, it looked as if the Tigers could hang on with the Trojans as it was a stalemate after the first quarter. But in the 2nd, West Seneca East found their groove and had an onslaught of points scored as they took this game 50-0. With QB DJ Benker graduating this past offseason, the Trojans used a QB by committee with RB [player_tooltip player_id='2262754' first='Josh' last='Urban'] and WR [player_tooltip player_id='2220245' first='Joey' last='Molnar'] taking the snaps. Urban accounted for WSE's first four TDs before other players got involved with TD runs by Tucker Stones and [player_tooltip player_id='2174263' first='Cinsere' last='Tucker'] as well as a 14-yard TD pass from Molnar to Chase Hall.</p>    <p class="text-gray-700">Urban was arguably West Seneca East's best player last season and that momentum carried over to this year. The Trojans offensive scheme didn't change much but instead of playing strictly RB, Josh took a lot of direct handoffs and turned them in to 4 scores vs Amherst.</p>    <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Canisius vs Health Sciences (At Erie Community College)</h2>   <p>Week 1 across WNY was full of blowouts and this game was no different as Canisius jumped out to a 28-0 halftime lead and never looked back. Syracuse commit [player_tooltip player_id='778700' first='Elijah' last='Kimble'] ran for 231 yards on just 14 carried and scored 4 TDs as the games MVP. Newly transferred RB [player_tooltip player_id='1939503' first='Leo' last='Burg'] added a TD for himself while [player_tooltip player_id='1257801' first='Antonio' last='Olivero'], in his varsity debut, had a nice 24-yard catch and run for a score as the Crusaders beat the Falcons 41-14.</p>   <p><strong>Breakout Player Alert</strong></p>    <p class="text-gray-700">I have expected Lindstrom to be a breakout player for the last two seasons. And while his numbers were not earth shattering, mainly because of their dominant run game, Lindstrom looked poised in the pocket and delivered his first career TD in the 1st quarter. Nate has ideal size to be a #1 QB and if the game plan calls for it, he could be that added second dimension Canisius needs.</p>

Each week, I will attend a few games over the weekend, from both varsity and JV. Here I will give a game summary and player breakdowns from the Week 1 matchups I saw.