×

Southwestern Finds The Going Tough At Cleveland Hill

Southwestern’s Luke Heil runs for 31 yards late in the fouth quarter of Saturday’s non-league football game at Cleveland Hill. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

CHEEKTOWAGA — Southwestern cruised through the first three games of its season, outscoring opponents 97-14 on its way to a 3-0 record.

On Saturday, Cleveland Hill showed the Trojans that they still have work to do if they plan to unseat the defending Section VI Class C champions.

The Golden Eagles (3-1, 1-0 Class C North) used a pair of long runs and a dominating defense to stifle the Trojans’ offense en route to a 12-0 shutout win.

“This was a tough, tough set of conditions for both teams,” Cleveland Hill coach Glen Graham said of the mid-80s afternoon heat in which the game was played. ” … It didn’t have to be perfect today, but I was really proud of the effort our guys gave because Southwestern is a heck of a ballclub.”

Junior running back Aaron Wahler, who ran for 1,000 yards last year as a sophomore, led Cleveland Hill’s power-run offense with 93 yards on 23 carries while senior quarterback Brett Kochanski added 97 yards on six carries.

“Aaron’s done a great job for us throughout his time on the varsity. It was important for us to get the running game going and to keep it going,” Graham said. “They were giving us fits in the first quarter, but eventually we were able to settle down and get some things done.”

Southwestern, with designs on repeating as Class C South champions and meeting Cleveland Hill in the sectional title game at New Era Field for the second year in a row, totaled 153 yards on the afternoon, including just 41 on the ground.

“You’ve got to give it to the kids because they played their butts off,” Southwestern coach Jehuu Caulcrick said. “This one is on the coaches. We’ve got to do a better job of putting them in position to be successful. As coaches we will do that for next week.”

Wahler’s 2-yard touchdown run with 1:06 left in the first half would stand up as the eventual game-winner. The Golden Eagles went 75 yards on eight plays over 4 minutes and 45 seconds. Wahler actually had a 75-yard touchdown run called back due to a penalty on the first play of the drive, but then carried five times for 40 yards over the remainder of the drive, the biggest gain being a 26-yard scamper on first-and-10 from the 42-yard line.

Southwestern took possession of the ball at the 35-yard line after the ensuing kickoff and eventually marched down to the 2-yard line after Cole Snyder completions of 17 yards to Faizan Munir and 18 yards to Alex Card. The Trojans used their final timeout after an inside run was stopped for no gain on first down. Snyder then completed a pass to Zishan Munir out of the backfield on second-and-goal from the 2, but Munir was on the ground when he caught the ball and time ran out on the Trojans without a score.

“It really hurt going into the half, when we were down inside the 5 and couldn’t get anything out of it,” Caulcrick said. “That really hurt.”

On their second drive of the second half, the Golden Eagles took command of the game. Wahler ran 12 yards on first-and-10 from the 20-yard line, but was injured at the end of the run. After a 3-yard run from Majerowski, Kochanski went 65 yards through the Southwestern defense for a touchdown to give the state’s 10th-ranked Class C team a 12-0 lead with 5:46 left in the third quarter.

“Coach (Dennis) Mason and Coach (Charles) Barth made a great adjustment at halftime,” Graham said. “We gave Brett an inside run, something that we just put in. He did a great job with it on that touchdown. It was huge.”

Southwestern threatened to score on its opening drive of the fourth quarter after a first-and-28 pass from Snyder to Brian Burns resulted in a 31-yard gain. Snyder eventually threw incomplete into the end zone on fourth-and-11 from the 17-yard line, turning the ball back over to the Golden Eagles.

“We are gaining confidence in our corners and they are gaining confidence in themselves,” Graham said of seniors Michael Clark and Nacir Houston. “The whole defense did a really good job. The D-line did a great job with pressure.”

The Trojans attempted to break up the shutout on their final drive of the game, marching 78 yards in 11 plays to the Cleveland Hill 6-yard line, but another desperation throw from Snyder fell incomplete to end the drive. During the series, Snyder was sacked four times, including on consecutive plays by Golden Eagles senior Manny Al-Hemyari.

“Those were big,” Graham said of the quarterback takedowns. “As a matter of fact, everytime they were in the red zone, we had guys who were making big plays. Sometimes you just have to tough it out and get the ugly win.”

Southwestern (3-1, 2-0 Class C South), the state’s seventh-ranked Class C team in this past week’s New York State Sportswriters Association rankings, will look to rebound Friday night against non-league Dunkirk, the state’s 18th-ranked Class B team.

“All of our goals are still in front of us. We still have the opportunity to repeat as league champs,” Caulcrick said. “We have a big one next week. We are excited about that to be home in front of our fans for homecoming.”

NOTES: Clark had the interception for Cleveland Hill. … Derek Miller had an interception and Faizan Munir recovered a fumble for the Trojans, who were led by Alex Calabrese with 11 tackles, Faizan Munir with nine and freshman Drew Wigren with eight.

Southwestern 0 0 0 0 — 0

Cleveland Hill 0 6 6 0 — 12

CH–Wahler 2 run (pass failed)

CH–Kochanski 65 run (pass failed)

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

COMMENTS

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today