CLARENCE - The Jamestown Red Raiders' winning and shutout streaks came to an abrupt end on Friday night.
Jamestown hadn't been scored on since an opening-game loss to Frontier. Then the Red Raiders posted four shutouts in a row. But the host Red Devils put an end to that with a 42-6 victory to clinch the Class AA South championship.
With a win, Jamestown, now 3-2 in Class AA South and 4-2 overall, could have moved into a tie for the division lead.
Article Photos
Jamestown senior Joe Campion rushed for 63 yards Friday night against Clarence.
P-J photo by Jim Riggs
Clarence is now 5-0 and 6-0 and will have the home field in the quarterfinals and semfinals of the Section 6 Playoffs.
''They were 4-1 and they're a good football team, but we were a little better tonight,'' Red Devils coach Tom Goddard said about Jamestown.
Jamestown coach Tom Langworthy said about Clarence, ''They're a good football team and they have the ability to hit you quick and they hit us with a couple of big plays.''
And the Red Raiders had not surrendered any big plays until Friday night.
However, Jamestown had the first big play.
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It was the defense, that had allowed only 13 points in five games, that set up the Red Raiders' first and only touchdown.
Late in the first quarter, Clarence was forced to punt from its own 23-yard line, but the snap to punter Dominic Webster was a bit high. By the time he pulled it down, Ne'Kyle Taylor had streaked in to block it and also recovered the ball at the Red Devils' 9.
Three plays later, Joe Campion burst over right tackle for a 1-yard touchdown, but Eric Tyra's extra-point kick into a strong wind was wide to keep the score 6-0 with 2:15 left in the first quarter.
Clarence's defense came up big to end Jamestown's next possession. A pass by Dennis Drew went off the receiver's hands and Jim Phillips intercepted it at his own 29.
The Red Devils' running game had not had much success, but they found some with the passing game. A third-and-three was converted on 7-yard pass from Zach Lauricella to Sean Wolf. Then two plays later, Lauricella found Tyler Carter wide open on the right side and the result was a 40-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 6-6 with 6:07 left in the half. Stephen Hughes's extra-point kick into the wind missed to keep the score tied.
After the kickoff, Jamestown went three-and-out and Clarence was on the move when running back Cooper Wittig broke loose for a 30-yard run around left end. Then the drive slowed after two incomplete passes and the Red Devils faced a fourth-and-nine play at the Jamestown 34. Lauricella completed an 18-yard pass to Carter to keep the drive alive and on the next play, Lauricella hit Robert Ross down the middle for a 15-yard touchdown pass. Then Lauricella passed to Phillips for a two-point conversion and a 14-6 lead with 1:30 left in the first half.
Going to the air had worked and Goddard said, ''We thought the difference would be Zach Lauricella. We wanted to prepare mentally for a defense that was going to try to shut down our run. We forced it a little bit at the beginning and then we went to the air and things broke open.''
And that didn't surprise Langworthy.
''They're a dual threat and they have different options to go to when they need to switch it up a little bit,'' he said. ''They did that and it seemed to work for them.''
However, Jamestown was only behind by eight points after two quick Clarence touchdowns in the last six minutes of the half.
''We felt pretty good at halftime,'' Langworthy said. ''It was 14-6, but they came out and dominated the second. You've got to play 48 minutes to win football game in this league.''
Right after taking the second-half kickoff, Lauricella hit Dominic Principale with a 59-yard pass to the Jamestown 9. Two plays later, Michael Gelz scored from 2 yards out and Hughes' extra-point kick increased the Red Devils' lead to 21-6.
Jamestown went three-and-out and Clarence scored again.
A 31-yard run by Gelz put the Red Devils at the Jamestown 20 and from there Lauricella hit Webster with a touchdown pass and Hughes kicked the extra point again for a 28-6 lead.
Lauricella finished 8-for-10 for 194 yards and was never sacked.
''Their quarterback got the ball off quick and he made some very good throws,'' Langworthy said.
Then it was another Jamestown three-and-out and another Clarence touchdown.
The TD was a 22-yard run by Wittig and Hughes kick moved the Clarence lead to 35-6 with 4:52 left in the third quarter.
Once again, it was three-and-out for Jamestown and Clarence in the end zone.
The final Red Devils' touchdown was 54-yard run by Wittig on a reverse and Hughes kick made it 42-6 with 1:46 left in the third quarter.
Wittig was the game's leading rusher with 128 yards on 11 carries while Gelz had 59 on 11 carries.
Jamestown finished with under 100 yards rushing as Campion led the way with 63 yards on 27 carries. Jacob Gullo had 22 yards on eight rushes.
The Red Raiders' leading tackler was Eric Tyra with 13 while Ben Whitney had 11 and Terrance Dejesus eight.
Next for Jamestown is a home game on Friday at 7 p.m. against Orchard Park, which takes on winless West Seneca West today. With a win, the Red Raiders can claim second place in Class AA South.