Classmate Alex Card — a collegiate prospect in his own right — wasn’t too shabby either.

Snyder went 18 for 22 for 223 yards and five touchdowns while Card caught eight of those passes for 104 yards and three of the touchdowns as Southwestern welcomed Franklinville/Ellicottville to Class C South with a decisive 35-8 victory Friday night at Charles A. Lawson Field.

“It was a great team win,” Card said following the performance. “Stats don’t really mean much. We got the win.”

The Trojans have their sights set on a third straight trip to New Era Field for another Class C championship matchup with Cleveland Hill at the end of this season and Friday night’s opener showed no goal is too far-fetched for head coach Jehuu Caulcrick and his team.

Southwestern’s Garrett Swan runs away from Franklinville/Ellicottville’s Clayton Rowland during the second half of Friday’s Class C South game at Charles A. Lawson Field. P-J photo by Valory S. Isaacson

“I was pleased with the outcome, but I think we played sloppy,” Caulcrick said postgame.

On its first offensive drive of the season, Southwestern made quick work of Franklinville/Ellicottville by marching 57 yards on eight plays over four minutes and 11 seconds, capped by an 11-yard hookup between the Rutgers-bound Snyder and Card.

“You’ve got to give it to the offensive line,” Caulcrick said. “They did a great job.”

The longest play of the drive set up the touchdown as Snyder found Dominic Certo for a 16-yard gain one play before he hit Card on an out toward the front pylon of the end zone. Card caught the ball and got two feet down just inside the boundary before adding the extra point for a 7-0 lead.

“We have a 24-hour rule. You are happy for 24 hours, but after that you have to come back and have a working attitude,” Card said. “That’s what we have to do week in and week out.”

The Trojans made it 14-0 on the third play of the second quarter to cap a seven-play, 49-yard drive that lasted three minutes and eight seconds. On second-and-2 from the 30-yard line, Snyder found Card for a 22-yard gain. Two plays later, Snyder’s play-action fake drew the attention of the Titans defense before he lofted a pass to the back of the end zone into the waiting arms of Faizan Munir.

“He’s more of a defensive guy. Faizan is the smartest football player I’ve ever played with,” Snyder said. “We call him ‘The Doc.’ He’s just so smart … he’ll sight-adjust routes. … He’s such a smart player.”

Four possessions later, Southwestern got the ball back with 2:25 remaining in the first half and used its hurry-up offense to produce another touchdown. Snyder completed passes of 11 and 14 yards to Mayson Mathews as well as throws of 7 and 4 yards to Card, eventually setting up first-and-10 from the 16-yard line. After an incompletion, Snyder hit a streaking Card outside the hash marks and the 5-foot-11 receiver caught the ball near the back line of the end zone for his second score of the night and a 21-0 lead with 41 seconds left after his third point-after kick.

“It’s repetition from practice. We run routes all the time,” Card said of the connection between he and Snyder. “It’s repetition to know where you are all the time.”

The Trojans capped a six-play, 62-yard drive with Snyder’s third touchdown to Card to open the second half. Runs by Gaven Dewey and Zishan Munir set Southwestern up with second-and-9 from the 34-yard line before Snyder threw a jump ball into the end zone that Card wrestled away from his defender for his third and final touchdown of the night.

“He ‘Mossed’ a kid today. That was a great catch by him,” Snyder said of Card. “That just goes to show the work that we put in during the offseason. We start in January and February. We are used to that. He makes plays like that in the offseason, 7-on-7s, and that translates to the games.”

From there, the hosts put it in cruise control, allowing an 11-yard touchdown run to Jacob Peters with mostly a second-string defense on the field midway through the fourth quarter.

“He’s a good shifty back. He’s patient, he stays in the backfield and he hides behind his linemen,” Caulcrick said of Peters. “You’ve got to give him credit. Defensively, we have to do more … our linebackers have to play better.”

“We wanted the shutout so we need to clean that up,” Snyder added when asked for his opinion of the team’s 48-minute effort. “We ran the rock well, but there were a couple of incompletions we can work on.”

Snyder closed the game by tying his own school record with his fifth touchdown pass of the night when he found Mathews for a 1-yard pass and catch with 1:19 remaining. The score came one play after the same pair hooked up for a 37-yard completion down the sideline.

“He’s got such a big frame and uses his body really well,” Snyder said of Mathews. “Down in the red zone he’s a threat … on the whole field he’s a threat. I’ll look to go to him a lot this year.”

NOTES: Zishan Munir ran 11 times for 35 yards while Garrett Swan ran six times for 27 yards. … Drew Wigren led the Trojans defense with eight tackles while Rylie Miller, Cooper Pannes and Seth Bennett each had seven tackles. … Faizan Munir had an interception and Tyler Williams had a sack. … Peters led the Titans with 69 yards on the ground.

FRANKLINVILLE/ELLICOTTVILLE 0 0 0 8 — 8

SOUTHWESTERN 7 14 7 7 — 35

Sou–Card 11 pass from Snyder (Card kick)

Sou–FMunir 5 pass from Snyder (Card kick)

Sou–Card 16 pass from Snyder (Card kick)

Sou–Card 34 pass from Snyder (Card kick)

F/E–Peters 11 run (Frank run)

Sou–Mathews 1 pass from Snyder (Card kick)