With Jamestown leading Orchard Park, 35-28, with 1:14 left to play Friday night, the visiting Quakers pulled off a hook-and-lateral pass play for what appeared to be a 70-yard touchdown play that could have tied the game.
It would have been only fitting in a wild Class AA South game that had more ups and downs than a roller coaster.
But the last downer, at least for Orchard Park, was that the play was nullified because of a 15-yard penaly for an illegal forward pass on the lateral.
Article Photos
Conner Anderson of Jamestown is carried off the field by teammate Josh Colwell after he recovered a fumble in the final seconds of the Red Raiders’s Class AA?South victory over Orchard Park on Friday night at Strider Field. Below, Da’Quan Hollingsworth of Jamestown breaks loose for some of his 135 rushing yards. See additional photos at cu.post-journal.com.
P-J photos by Jim Riggs
On the next play, the Quakers fumbled and Conner Anderson of the host Red Raiders dove on the ball to secure the big victory.
''I can't speak, we beat the No. 1 team in the No. 1 game in New York State,'' he said. ''It can't get much better than that.''
That about summed it up as Jamestown not only defeated the No. 1 team in the state and in Western New York, but it also ended the winning streak of the defending state champions at 18.
The see-saw game reminded Zach Panebianco, who caught one touchdown pass and kicked four extra points, of last week's loss at Frontier.
''We did that all last week and came up on the wrong side on the scoreboard,'' he said ''It was exactly the same score this week.''
But on the Red Raiders' side.
Orchard Park is now 5-1 overall and 4-1 in Class AA South while Jamestown is 5-1 and 3-1. If the Red Raiders win at Clarence next week, they will be tied with the Quakers for the division title, which would go to Jamestown because of Friday night's win.
The Quakers held an early 7-0 lead, only to fall behind 21-7 before cutting the score to 21-14 at halftime. Orchard Park eventually tied the game at 28-28 before the Red Raiders wrapped up the victory with a touchdown with 3:55 left to play.
And Jamestown did that by following their coach's mantra of ''Win the next play.''
''When you play a team like Orchard Park and beat them you've got do that because they make plays,'' Jamestown coach Tom Langworthy said. ''And if you don't match plays with them, you're going to be at the wrong end of the scoreboard.''
Leading the offense in the win was Da'Quan Hollingsworth with 22 carries for 130 yards and quarterback Jake Sisson, who completed 11 of 15 passes for 126 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran 12 times for 27 important yards and a touchdown
''Jake just played fantastic,'' Langworthy said. ''I think some of the inside runs he had were out of this world. They weren't flashy, but he got three or four (yards) and they gave the defense something else to think about other than Da'Quan.''
The Jamestown defense was led by Cortland Haines with 12 tackles and John Czech had 11.
Orchard Park started to roll from the opening kickoff as the Quakers drove 70 yards in nine plays to score on 31-yard touchdown pass from Ben Holmes to Austin Goltz. Tim Wagner kicked the extra point and the Quakers led 7-0 after less than three minutes of play.
During the drive Orchard Park converted a third-and-four and a fourth-and-one.
After an exchange of punts, Jamestown tied the game with a 59-yard drive in nine plays and most of the plays were by Sisson. He complete two passes for 24 yards and carried three times with the last 2 yards for the touchdown. Panebianco's extra-point kick tied the game at 7-7 with 3:03 left in the first quarter.
Orchard Park's next possession ended with a punt, but Panebianco fumbled the catch and Connor Eddy recovered the ball for the Quakers at the Red Raiders' 39-yard line. But on the visitors' first play, Holmes carried for 6 yards before Watson forced a fumble and Ben Larson recovered the ball for the Red Raiders at their own 34.
Seven plays later Jamestown took to lead.
A 34-yard run by Da'Quan Hollingsworth put the ball at the 9 and from there Sisson hit Watson with a touchdown pass and Panebianco's kick put the Red Raiders in front, 14-7.
The Red Raiders took advantage of another Orchard Park turnover to score as Jacob McBride picked off a Holmes pass after the ensuring kickoff and returned it 25 yards to the Quakers' 15. Three plays later, Sisson scored from 2 yards and Panebianco kicked another extra point for a 21-7 lead with 10:25 left in the second quarter.
''I was trying to play as hard a defense as I could because I wasn't starting at the beginning of the game,'' McBride said. ''They gave me a chance to go in and I made the best of it.''
The Red Raiders appeared to be in control and things looked even worse for Orchard Park when Holmes, who Langworthy had stated earlier in the week as the best player his team would face this season, left the game with an injury.
''I have no idea,'' Orchard Park coach Gene Tundo answered when asked about Holmes' injury. ''He just said he didn't feel well.''
Langworthy said, ''It's definitely nice not to see him in there. I hope he's OK and we never want to see a player injured. Defensively, jhe was the guy we had to account for.''
Kenny Goltz, a sophomore called up from the junior varsity, took over at quarterback and went 0 for 3 passing on his first series.
After the Quakers punted away, Jamestown went on a long drive that reached the Quakers' 11, but stalled when Hollingsworth was dropped for a 2-yard loss and followed by a 5-yard penalty for delay of game. Panebianco then attempted and missed s 35-yard field goal.
With less than a minute left in the half, the Quakers took possession at their own 20 and suddenly Kenny Goltz found his targets. He completed a 41-, 17 and 11-yard passes all to his brother, Austin Goltz, and the last was for a touchdown with one second left in the half. Wagner's extra-point kick cut the Jamestown lead to 21-14.
''Played great, I give him all the credit in the world,'' Tundo said about his sophomore quarterback. ''We brought him up and people were mad we brought him up.''
Langworthy said, ''I knew when one went out, the next one would be willing and able.
Langworthy also took a positive from the late Orchard Park touchdown.
''When I came in the locker room I let the guys know maybe that's a blessing that they scored so we won't relax in the second half,'' he said.
Jamestown took the second-half kickoff and went on a long drive that was kept alive with an Anderson run for 5 yards and a first down on a fake punt and a 23-yard completion from Sisson to Panebianco on a fourth-and-five play to put the ball at the 3. But drive stalled there with a 3-yard loss and Panebianco attempted and missed s 22-yard field goal.
Orchard Park took possession at it 20 and wasn't there long. On the first play, Wilson broke loose for an 80-yard touchdown run, but Wagner's extra-point kick failed and the Red Raiders still led, 21-20.
The Quakers' kickoff was short and upman Haines grabbed it and rambled 30 yards to the visitor's 48. After two runs for first downs by Hollingsworth, Sisson hit Panebianco in the corner of the end zone and then Panebianco kicked the exta point to a 28-20 Jamestown lead with 1:16 left in the third quarter.
''We ran that play earlier in the game and it was open,'' Panebianco said. ''We ran it again and Jake made a good throw. Once again, it was open.''
Sisson said, ''Execution-wise, we ran that play pretty good. It comes together through execution.''
Orchard Park came right back and drove 79 yards in 15 plays to score on a 1-yard run by Jett Modkins, who also ran for a two-point conversoin to tie the game at 28-28 with 6:50 left to play.
Then it was time for the Red Raiders to have a long run.
Hollingsworth took the kickoff and ran down the left sideline where he appeared to be stopped mong a batch of tacklers. But he somehow broke loose and ran to the left and was finally knocked out of bound at the Orchard Park 29 for a 56-yard return.
''I was thinking I'm not going to get stopped,'' Hollingsworth said. ''I saw his (the defender to beat) weakness and started to slow down, so I just juked back and one of my linemen just cracked him and that maee it a lot easier for me.''
On a fourth-and-seven play, Panebianco made a diving catcch for a 16-yard gain to the 10 and two plays later Sisson complete a jump-ball pass to the corner of the end zone to Stephen Carlson and Panebianco's kick gave Jamestown a 35-28 lead with 3:55 left to play.
''I've got gicve credit to Steve on that,'' Sisson said. ''The offensive line gave me time to throw it up there and Steve had the hops to go up in front of it.''
Carlson said, ''We knew we need a big play and we weren't coming out the Red Zone without a touchdown. It was a great pass and a good catch.''
Then both teams turned the ball over on downs and the Quakers had a last possession at their 30 with 1:14 left. Kenny Goltz completed a pass to Raphael Pagliel who then tossed a forward lateral to Wilson who ran to the end zone. After the play was called back because of the ellegal forward pass penalty, the Quakers fumbled on the next play and Anderson pounced on the ball to lock up the Red Raiders' big win.
''I thought I was dreaming,'' Anderson said was his feelings when he saw the ball. ''I thought it was last night. I thought I was in my bed dreaming about picking up the ball and winning the game.''
The Red Raiders complete the regular season next Saturday with a 2 p.m. Class AA South game at Clarence and they must win to claim the division title
''It is big,'' Langworthy said. ''For tonight, I'm going to enjoy this one. Tomorrow we'll talk about that.''
Orchard Park7 7 6 8 - 28
Jamestown 7 14 7 7 - 35
OP-AGoltz 31 pass from Holmes (Wagner kick)
Jam-Sisson 2 run (Panebianco kick)
Jam-Watson 9 pass from Sisson (Panebianco kick)
Jam-Hollingsworth 2 run (Panebianco kick)
OP-AGoltz 11 pass from KGoltz (Wagner kick)
OP-Wilson 80 run (kick failed)
Jam-Panebianco 10 pass from Sisson (Panebianco kick)
OP-Modkins 1 run (Modkins run)
Jam-Carlson 8 pass from Sisson (Panebianco kick)