Week 2 Standouts

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <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 2 matchups I saw.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>McKinley @ Amherst</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Amherst was looking to bounce back from their shutout defeat last week but this wouldn't be the game to make it happen. The Tigers showed some promise in the second quarter when they made a couple big plays on special teams; a muff punt return recovery by Cam Brown and a blocked punt by Liam Robshaw. That, plus a huge 3rd down sack by Ben Teamen gave Amherst hope but their offense could not capitalize and Mciknley took the game over. A week after running for 300 yards and 5 TDs, the Macks took this game to the air, throwing 5 touchdowns (3 by freshman Kyion Minter and 2 by [player_tooltip player_id='1513356' first='CoTrell' last='Rhodes']). Rhoades also ran in another TD as McKinley won 42-0.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Player of the Game</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["1513362"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-6aa35e6bebe00"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Of the 5 TD passes thrown, Mullen caught 3 of them from 30, 15 and 30 yards out consistently finding himself wide open. His fellow WR [player_tooltip player_id='2209149' first='Marcus' last='Daniels'] caught the other two scores from 70 and 22 yards out while also registering an INT.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Olean @ Depew</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Olean came out against the heavily favored Wildcats and took a quick 7-0 lead after [player_tooltip player_id='1683964' first='Dominik' last='Myers'] hit Mason Hirliman on a short TD pass. Depew would score on the ensuing drive but junior [player_tooltip player_id='2201451' first='Colby' last='Booth'] blocked the Xpt leaving Olean in the lead 7-6. But from there, it was all Depew with an onslaught of points scored and solid defensive play by players like Aidan Leazott, who blocked a field goal and recorded an INT and [player_tooltip player_id='1552894' first='Rayjohn' last='Vance'], who recovered the blocked attempt. Depew DB [player_tooltip player_id='1738261' first='Luis' last='Ayala'] also forced a fumble that was recovered by junior DL Naseem Khalil. Offensively, QB [player_tooltip player_id='1513363' first='Kole' last='Szratter'] held his composure throwing a pair of scores and a couple of two-point conversions. He also knocked in a few extra points.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Player of the Game</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["1513348"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-6aa6a1ef796c3"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Coming off a Week 1 Connolly Cup nomination, Bridenbaker only built up steam as he was playing like a man among boys scoring all 6 of Depew's TDs, including 4 in the first half alone. Zach finished the game with 309 yards from scrimmage and 6 TDs (4 rushing and 2 receiving).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Amherst @ McKinley (JV)</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Amherst JV team looked to avenge their varsity loss and they did just that coming out firing on all cylinders. Starting with an opening drive INT by Tyler Hepp, the Tigers would roll with 44 straight points to open the half. Sophomore QB Lucas Freeman threw 4 TDs while Amherst's ground game went for over 200 yards thanks to their dominant OL play by players like freshman [player_tooltip player_id='2324931' first='Tyler' last='Dengler'].</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Player of the Game</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":["not_in_db"],"_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_player_details_selected_featured_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_selected_featured_image":"field_62cca28ffa4e7","player_evaluations_0_player_details_player_name":"Sadeq Ahmed","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_player_name":"field_62aba4c9ecf2f","player_evaluations_0_player_details_graduating_class":"2030","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_graduating_class":"field_62aba4ddecf30","player_evaluations_0_player_details_height":"5'6u0022","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_height":"field_62aba4e8ecf31","player_evaluations_0_player_details_weight":"130","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_weight":"field_65b288425ecf6","player_evaluations_0_player_details_position":"2408","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_position":"field_62aba4f0ecf32","player_evaluations_0_player_details_school":"Amherst","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_school":"field_62aba4fdecf33","player_evaluations_0_player_details_club_program":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_club_program":"field_62d20e723441a","player_evaluations_0_player_details":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details":"field_62aba4afecf2e","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-6aa6a3f8b8c39"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"placeholder":"Add evaluation here...","className":"text-gray-700"} --> <p class="text-gray-700">Ahmed showed a lot of burst and speed in the open field scoring 3 TDs on the day as well as a 2-point conversion. Two of his 3 scores came from 50+ yards out, one of which was a swing pass in which he out ran the entire McKinley defense.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block -->