But almost in the blink of an eye it was gone.

The Hillbillies regrouped and got the job done.

Ethan Fry threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Jameson Quinn, and Samuel Atzrott recovered a fumble in overtime as Fredonia beat Southwestern 28-21 at Charles A. Lawson Field.

The Hillbillies controlled much of the game, taking a 21-0 lead midway through the third quarter, but injuries along their offensive and defensive lines began to catch up with them.

Southwestern’s Cameron Lemk catches a pass in front of a trio of Fredonia defenders during Friday’s Class C South football game at Charles A. Lawson Field. P-J photo by Scott Reagle

So did the Trojans.

Southwestern’s Jameson Walsh ran away from the pressure of Atzrott and threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Lemk with 8:59 left in the game and Neves Hoose added the first of his three successful point-after kicks to make it 21-7.

“That’s certainly a game for character building,” Fredonia head coach Greg Sherlock said. “We started having injuries and we got out of what we were able to do early for the first three quarters.”

The Trojans then elected to go for the onside kick and recovered it at the Fredonia 49-yard line. Four plays later, Walsh connected with Matt Pannes for a 32-yard touchdown to make it 21-14.

“We were down 21-7 so we had to get some momentum going,” Southwestern head coach Jake Burkholder said. “At that point, we had nothing to lose.”

“That kicker is so good. I’ve been watching him for a few years now and he’s pretty amazing,” Sherlock said of Hoose. “We spend a lot of time on kickoffs, but he’s just that good.”

Five plays into Fredonia’s next drive, Brody Larson intercepted a desperation Ethan Fry pass on third-and-15 to give Southwestern the ball back at its own 21-yard line with 7:21 remaining. The Trojans then engineered a 14-play, 79-yard drive that was capped by Walsh as he refused to go down on a 12-yard scramble that ended up tying the game at 21-all after another Hoose PAT.

“We came out a little flat. Our kids were ready to go and ready to roll, but sometimes that intensity doesn’t always carry over the physical aspect of things,” Burkholder said. “We’ve been a second-half team, it seems, for the last couple of years.”

After a touchback, the Hillbillies took over at their own 20-yard line and on the first play, Fry danced around at the line of scrimmage before finding Tim Field open down the sideline for a 47-yard gain. On the next play, Micah Davis was brought down by a pair of tacklers and grabbed by the face mask before fumbling the ball. Southwestern recovered and was awarded the ball, despite the penalty on the play.

Each team had another possession down the stretch, but was unable to score sending the game to overtime.

Fry connected with Field for 4 yards on first down before finding Quinn in the end zone on second-and-6 for the 14-yard touchdown. Sal Tabone’s fourth successful PAT made it 28-21.

“It’s a read. He has to make a good read,” Sherlock said of Fry. “He was a receiver … and he has been the one thrown into the fire. … He made the right read.”

Walsh then ran for 11 yards on first down to set up first-and-goal from the 9-yard line. Walsh went for 5 yards on the next play, but on second down the snap got away from him and Atzrott was able to fall on it before Walsh to end the game.

“Sam Atzrott is a man. He had some bad games earlier, but he’s turned it up the last few weeks,” Sherlock said. ” … We expect a lot from Sammy. He put a lot of pressure on today. He’s really what makes us tick.”

Fredonia went up 7-0 in the first quarter on a Fry-to-Quinn 25-yard touchdown and increased its lead to 14-0 with 3:43 left in the second quarter on an 11-yard touchdown run by Micah Davis.

Atzrott then ran for a 1-yard touchdown with 7:50 left in the third quarter and it looked like the Hillbillies would be on their way to a huge Class C South win, more importantly a 20-point division win.

But Southwestern turned things around and made a game of it, in the end only losing by 7, which could be very important for tiebreakers at the end of the season.

“The league is tight. Everybody was within five points for point differential,” Burkholder said. “That was a conversation about (going for a winning 2-point conversion), but we were coming from behind so we just wanted to take that momentum and get into overtime.”

Walsh finished 21 of 43 for 206 yards and two touchdowns while also being the Trojans’ leading rusher with 37 yards and a touchdown. Pannes caught 10 passes for 139 yards.

Fry finished 14 of 31 for 252 yards and two touchdowns with an interception while Davis ran 25 times for 149 yards and a touchdown. Quinn caught eight passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns and Field caught four passes for 103 yards.

Southwestern, Salamanca and Fredonia are all tied atop the league with identical 3-1 records. The Trojans finished divisional play at Allegany-Limestone next Friday, the Hillbillies visit Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton in Mayville and Salamanca closes league play on Friday, Oct. 21 at home against Silver Creek/Forestville.

“That tiebreaker, if everybody wins out, is probably going to go to Salamanca,” Sherlock said. “That’s why it was so big when we were up 21.”

Fredonia 7 7 7 0 7 — 28

Southwestern 0 0 0 21 0 — 21

Fre–Quinn 25 pass from Fry (Tabone kick)

Fre–Davis 11 run (Tabone kick)

Fre–Atzrott 1 run (Tabone kick)

Sou–Lemk 9 pass from Walsh (Hoose kick)

Sou–Pannes 32 pass from Walsh (Hoose kick)

Sou–Walsh 12 run (Hoose kick)

Fre–Quinn 16 pass from Fry (Tabone kick)

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