Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton’s Asher Olson catches a touchdown pass during Friday night’s Class C South win over Fredonia at the Orange Bowl in Fredonia. P-J photo by Ashleigh Brown

FREDONIA — Fredonia’s own homecoming game did not go well for the Hillbillies.

The homecoming of a former player on the visiting sidelines, however, went much better.

Sometimes all it takes to reset after a bad day is to go back home.

Friday night, Ty Harper got to experience that with his new program visiting the field he used to play on.

The Orange Bowl played host to a dominant football team, but it was the Fredonia graduate, Ty Harper, who was victorious, not the hometown Hillbillies.

Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton blew out Fredonia 64-16 in Class C South action.

The dominant victory was sentimental for Harper because of his own fond memories of playing at the Orange Bowl. He was a varsity player from 2001-03 before graduating. He has since gone on to become one of the most accomplished football coaches this area has ever seen, including three state championships in his 10 years with the Clymer/Sherman/Panama Wolfpack.

“Coming back here, there is a lot of nostalgia coming down that hill,” Harper said. “For all the quirks about this place, it’s an awesome atmosphere. … It brought back a lot of great memories. To get a win here was great. Fredonia is always going to be a place that I keep in my heart, for sure.”

Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton (5-1, 4-1) entered the game more motivated than ever, as last week’s 45-0 blowout loss to Southwestern/Frewsburg sent shockwaves through the division. Friday night, the Eagles proved they are a much better team than that score indicated.

“I think it was important for our team to bounce back. We did not play up to the standards that we have for ourselves last week,” Harper said. “We needed to get back to playing fundamentally sound football.”

On the opening drive of the game, the Eagles seemed to do just that, as they marched right down the field against the Fredonia defense. It helped that they were set up at midfield following a failed onside kick attempt, but with how efficient the Eagles looked, it might not have mattered.

Quarterback Brayden Gibbs connected with tight end Asher Olson over the middle for a 15-yard completion on third-and-9, then the two connected again a few plays later for a 17-yard touchdown, punctuated with a broken tackle down the sideline.

“It was nice that we came out right off the bat and were able to punch one into the end zone,” Harper said.

Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton scored a touchdown on its second drive, as well, as Gibbs found Carson Fairbank in the back right corner of the end zone from 11 yards out.

Down 14-0 in the second quarter, Fredonia (1-5, 1-5) fought back admirably. Quarterback Donovan Dowdy led the team to two fourth-down conversions. First, he scrambled for a gain of 14 on fourth-and-11. Then, just a few plays later, Dowdy hit Colin Luce for a 22-yard touchdown, less than three minutes into the second quarter. Following a 2-point conversion pass from Dowdy to Brennan Lincoln, Fredonia was down six, just shy of 15 minutes into the contest.

From there, however, it got out of hand.

“One thing we’ve done all year is we’ve moved the ball. We did the first two out of three drives, but after that, it was a series of mistakes,” Fredonia head coach Greg Sherlock said.

The connection between Gibbs and Olson was nearly unstoppable on Friday night. Gibbs found Olson six times for 99 yards and three touchdowns, including a 14-yard touchdown on fourth-and-5 to increase the Eagles’ lead to 21-8 with 6:40 left in the first half.

But it was not just Olson who benefited from the hot hand of Gibbs. Devin Hewes intercepted a pass with 4:42 left in the first half, then almost immediately turned it into points on the other side of the ball. Gibbs found Hewes for a 53-yard touchdown with 3:20 left in the half. After a 2-point conversion, the Eagles led 29-8.

In the second half, the Fredonia spiral continued, including three consecutive drives that ended with fumbles, beginning with the first play of the half. Clayton Smith punched in a touchdown run for the Eagles to extend the lead, then Olson caught his third touchdown of the game to pile on later in the quarter.

The Eagles pulled their starters on offense late in the third quarter. By that time, Harper’s boys led 43-8.

“They are a very good team,” Sherlock said of the Eagles. “We just didn’t have answers for their offense.”

Gibbs finished 18 of 26 for 269 yards and five touchdowns, with one interception. Olson had three of the five touchdowns, while Fairbank and Hewes had the others. That trio accounted for all 18 of Gibbs’ completions on Friday night, with Hewes leading the way with nine receptions for 137 yards.

“We’ve got a lot of different weapons that we can turn to, and I would be foolish as a coach to not utilize all of them,” Harper said. He added that Gibbs “did a phenomenal job of distributing the ball” to all three receivers.

Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton also had four rushing touchdowns on the night — all by different rushers. Thandon Bensink led the way with 13 carries for 86 yards and a touchdown, while Clayton Smith, Greyson Wellman and Jordin Eddy all scored touchdowns, as well.

Harper was not alone in his connection on the visitors’ side. Chautauqua Lake Athletic Director Bryan Bongiovanni is also a Fredonia graduate and an accomplished former Fredonia athlete, and one of Harper’s assistant coaches, Tim Wright, is a longtime Fredonia teacher and assistant varsity softball coach alongside Jesse Beers. Wright joked before Friday’s game that he had the contest circled from the moment Harper asked him to join the staff this year.

“I think that added some extra incentive, even for their kids,” Sherlock said of the Fredonia connections. “But we just didn’t match up very well with them. I just don’t think we’re disciplined enough to really handle a team like that.”

Things do not get any easier for Fredonia moving forward, as the Hillbillies travel to Salamanca on a short week to play under the lights on Thursday night in Salamanca.

Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton looks to continue to improve its positioning for a potential playoff run next week on the road against Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove.

“We have to keep showing up. Tonight is great, and hopefully it gives our kids some confidence moving forward, but it’s one game. We have to keep getting better,” Harper said.