Needing just 5 yards, the Black Knights picked a quick passing play.

Unfortunately for Silver Creek/Forestville, the Golden Cougars’ Matt Welsh read the play perfectly, jumped the route and returned an interception 69 yards to give F/CV/MG an early 14-0 lead.

The Golden Cougars’ pick-six set the tone for the rest of the game as F/CV/MG powered past SC/F for its first win of the season in a 42-0 nonleague at Bill Race Field.

Turnovers proved to be a big deciding factor for the Golden Cougars in the victory.

The Golden Cougars’ Matthew Welsh intercepts a pass before returning it 69 yards for a touchdown. P-J photo by Jason Bower

In the second quarter, Kynan Egan broke past the Black Knights’ offensive line and chased down Woleben to strip him of the football for a fumble that was recovered by Dakota Giambelluca. On the very first offensive snap after the fumble recovery, Golden Cougars quarterback Jackson Gowan targeted Trent Phillips along the sideline in a size mismatch.

Phillips caught Gowan’s pass in stride over the defender’s head and right into his arms to give the Golden Cougars a 28-0 lead after the PAT.

“That’s the way it is in every game, you take the wind out of their sail with turnovers,” Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove head coach Dan Greco said about the importance of winning the turnover battle. “They feel like they just helped you and they have. Then the other team gets momentum and that’s exactly what happened.”

Creating the turnover is one thing, but converting on them is another and the Golden Cougars made the Black Knights pay immediately with their dynamic offense. Both on the ground and through the air was a success for the Golden Cougars.

“The run game we work really hard on,” Greco said. “We spend a great deal of time and a lot of attention on our offensive line. That’s the key to our whole season, the offensive line, so we focused on that. We knew the kids could run the football so that all came together and then again you can’t throw the ball without protection and they did a really great job of that. Our offensive line just stepped up tonight like it hasn’t been in quite some time and give them credit they’re the ones that deserve the credit.”

The Golden Cougars’ first scoring drive was opened up with a big catch and run by Egan, which was followed up by a Dalton Caldwell 2-yard touchdown run. On the ground, Caldwell added another 12-yard touchdown run in the second quarter after the Black Knights continued to struggle moving the ball.

The Black Knights struggles continued all night long and as the game wore on it took a toll on the players physically. After the third quarter wound down with the visitors trailing 42-0, the game was called because of injuries to the Black Knights leaving them without enough players to continue the game.

“We lost Hunter Larson last week for the season,” Silver Creeek/Forestville head coach Sean Helmer said about the team’s injuries. “We had a couple kids I don’t think we’ll see next week. It’s really hard to say where we’re at. There’s a difference between 30 people on a team and having 11 kids that are ready to play football safely.”

The Golden Cougars are back home next week for their first Class C South game against Gowanda/Pine Valley, which will be coming in after a league win against Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton.

Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/MG 14 21 7 0 — 42

Silver Creek/Forestville 0 0 0 0 — 0

F/CV/MG–Caldwell 2 run (Paladino kick)

F/CV/MG–Welsh 69 interception return (Paladino kick)

F/CV/MG–Caldwell 12 run (Paladino kick)

F/CV/MG–Welsh 29 pass from Gowan (Paladino kick)

F/CV/MG–Bower 53 run (Paladino kick)