After shutting out the Warhawks in the first half 13-0, the West Seneca offense finally found its stride in the third quarter, scoring on a long touchdown run by quarterback Mackenzie Benker on its opening drive.

The following Jamestown drive did not last long as Ja’Mya Evans reeled in an interception that set up the Warhawks for another touchdown from Benker, and Evans added a 2-point conversion to take the 14-13 lead that would stand for No. 7 West Seneca.

“Our girls have been great,” Red & Green head coach Steve Propheter said. “This is a great team. We’re young. A little semi-rough start to the season. We have some nonleague games we try to get in before spring break as sort of a learning curve. But we’ve been rolling, won our last six weeks in a row and our two losses on the season were to West Seneca the day we got back from spring break and then a 6-0 loss to Lancaster.

West Seneca is a good team, but we made a couple too many mistakes today that we haven’t been making as of lately and it caught up to us. But they fight right up until the end. That’s one thing I preach to them.”

Jamestown’s Kinsley Berg returns an interception for a touchdown against West Seneca in the Section VI Class A flag football quarterfinals at Strider Field on Friday. P-J photo by Christian Storms

No. 2 Jamestown entered the postseason on a six-game win streak, drastically improving from a 1-4 start that included a 26-13 loss against West Seneca. In that early season defeat, West Seneca outscored Jamestown 26-0 in the first half and the Red & Green fought and managed 13 points in the fourth quarter to stop the shutout.

“Definitely nothing to take away from them the first time, but coming off of spring break our whole team was on vacation,” Propheter said about the first meeting with West Seneca. “It is something that has not happened until this year. We had a day and then we played them. It took a first half to get some of the kinks worked out and they were up just a little too big. Today, I thought we started off really well and then West Seneca really turned it on and really let it get away from us.”

Jamestown was ready for the test in the playoffs, locking down the Warhawks’ offense and having some success moving the ball.

The Red & Green were the first to threaten on the scoreboard, but just five yards away they were unable to find paydirt with a West Seneca defensive stand keeping the game scoreless.

Although, that would be short lived.

As West Seneca looked to go the length of the field, the Jamestown defense was rewarded with its pressure causing Benker to make an ill-advised pass back across the field which was perfectly read by Kinsley Berg.

The Jamestown freshman snagged the interception and was off to the races for the first points of the game. Marcia McIntyre connected with Abbie Brandow on the PAT and the Red & Green led the Warhawks for the first time this season, 7-0.

“Coach (Richie) Joly does a really great job with that defense,” Propheter said about his assistant. “We spend a lot of time watching film, so we coach them up a lot. He’s been coaching up a lot. We had a few extra days this week and so they knew where to be in position and what to watch for.”

The West Seneca offense did not respond well, and after another punt the Red & Green added to their lead with Berg once again using her speed.

McIntyre connected with Berg for a catch-and-run of more than 50 yards that built the Jamestown lead to 13-0 with the missed PAT.

“Not just Kinsley,” Propheter said about the great impact of his young players. “But we have Kiarelis Brito, Payton Gibbs, Ari Stone out here offensively. JaLeiya Glover is the young girl on defense. It’s kind of funny, Kins has a couple touchdowns today and Brito had quite a few touchdowns a couple games ago and Kins had five, so it’s been back and forth with the young girls. Being in a big game like this is going to pay off down the road. We’re going to see some future dividends on that.”

The Jamestown double-digit lead stood at halftime, but it did not last long into the third quarter as the Warhawks started strong with their best drive of the day coming out of the break.

For just a couple minutes in the third quarter, Benker and the Warhawks were able to figure out the stingy Jamestown defense. West Seneca scored on its opening drive and then immediately cashed in after Evans intercepted McIntyre on the first Jamestown drive of the half.

Jamestown was unable to get on the board after intermission and the young Red & Green (7-5) saw their season end at home in the quarterfinals 14-13.

“I’m just proud of the girls,” Propheter said. “I’m proud of Coach Joly and I just love seeing this program grow.”

No. 7 West Seneca (6-6-1) advances to the semifinals next Wednesday against the winner of No. 3 Kenmore and No. 6 Hutch Tech.

NOTES: McIntyre completed 11 of 20 passes for 148 yards and a touchdown; Katie Melquist caught four passes for 37 yards and a 1-point conversion; and Kiarelis Brito had nine rushes for 41 yards and three catches for 14 yards. … Defensively, JaLeiya Glover led the way with 10 flag pulls and two passes defended; Addison Cappalino had five flag pulls, including two for loss; Payton Gibbs added four flag pulls; and Berg had three flag pulls in addition to her pick-six.