Breaking News
Local Sports

Warriors pull away from Southwestern/Frewsburg

By MATT SPIELMAN 5 min read

WEST ELLICOTT -- Despite being a 48-minute game, Friday's Class C South tilt between Salamanca and Southwestern/Frewsburg was decided in a two-minute span.

The Warriors scored 21 points from the 1:04 mark of the second quarter through the 11:21 mark of the third quarter and beat the Trojans 21-12 at Charles A. Lawson Field.

"I think you have to challenge yourself mentally after a game like last week," said Salamanca head coach Chad Bartoszek, whose Warriors lost to nonleague Springville 40-25 last week. " ... We didn't play football the right way. We did not give ourselves a chance to play football because we were distracted by behavior and emotion. Early on here, I was worried."

Despite falling behind two scores midway through the second quarter, Salamanca put together a 12-play, 82-yard drive that culminated with Conner Seeley's 1-yard touchdown run. Easton Chudy's point-after kick made it 12-7 in favor of Southwestern/Frewsburg with 1:04 remaining in the first half.

Chudy then unleashed a perfect onside kick that the Warriors recovered for a first down at the 42-yard line. Four plays later, Seeley scored on another 1-yard run -- the fourth of the first half between the teams -- and Salamanca took a 14-12 lead into halftime.

"We always tell our front line to be ready to go. It's high school, kids might try to boot it deep and it ends up there," Southwestern/Frewsburg head coach Jake Burkholder said. "They got a heck of a bounce on it and we just failed to cover it."

"When you lose Week 1, you start to think about ways to win. That was just something we saw and to be honest, Easton nailed the perfect kick," Bartoszek said. " ... It's not something we're used to, but sometimes you have to change coaching styles a little bit. We need short fields. We're in trouble if we're backed up."

The Warriors started the second half at the 48-yard line after Southwestern/Frewsburg's kickoff went out of bounds and two plays later, Seeley ran for a 46-yard touchdown to make it 21-12 after Chudy's final successful point-after kick.

"They ripped a couple of big plays and we lost contain a couple of times," Burkholder said. "We just have to execute better."

The Trojans turned the ball over on a fourth-down incompletion with 6:36 remaining in the third quarter and did not get the ball back until 11:49 remained in the game. That drive made it to a fourth-and-5 at the 10-yard line, but another incompletion turned the ball back over to Salamanca.

Southwestern/Frewsburg would not see the ball again.

Taking over with 7:39 remaining, the Warriors put together a 13-play drive that moved the ball 56 yards and ended with a kneel down to end the game.

"We settled in and we were able to hold them out of the end zone at the end," Bartoszek said. "We showed the ability to come from behind and the ability to finish."

Coming off a 26-6 nonleague loss to Franklinville/Ellicottville/West Valley in Week 1, Southwestern/Frewsburg finally found some positive vibes on its second possession Friday. The Trojans went 35 yards in seven plays, capped by Drake Beckstrom's 1-yard plunge into the end zone for a 6-0 lead after the point-after kick was blocked.

"There were opportunities there and we definitely saw some flashes of things tonight," Burkholder said. "Drake played a heck of a game tonight, ran hard and left it all out there."

After a Salamanca three-and-out, Southwestern/Frewsburg went 48 yards in 10 plays, again capped by a 1-yard scoring run by Beckstrom to make it 12-0 after a bad snap on the point-after attempt.

"We had some good momentum going in the beginning. We were executing our assignments well," Burkholder said. "The script flipped a little bit. They had that nice long drive, ate up some clock and then put that one in right after the onside kick. ... We struggled to bounce back from that."

The Warriors, who didn't have a play longer than 4 yards on their first two drives, finally put together a positive play on Remy Follman's 29-yard reverse to cross midfield and 11 plays later got on the scoreboard with Seeley's first score.

"He's a captain, he's a leader. He's skillful, fast and talented," Bartoszek said of Seeley. "He's going to take us where we need to go."

The Trojans will look to find the win column Friday when they host Allegany-Limestone/Hinsdale in Frewsburg while Salamanca will host Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton that same night at Veterans Memorial Park.

"Winning is contagious," Bartoszek said. "We have to start developing those habits."

NOTES: Seeley ran 25 times for 145 yards and the two scores. ... Beckstrom ran 16 times for 75 yards and the two scores while completing 7 of 13 passes for 76 yards. ... Southwestern/Frewsburg's Zach Markham was in on 12 tackles, including two for a loss and a sack.

Salamanca 0 14 7 0 -- 21

Southwestern/Frewsburg 6 6 0 0 -- 12

S/F--Beckstrom 1 run (kick blocked)

S/F--Beckstrom 1 run (kick failed)

Sal--Seeley 1 run (Chudy kick)

Sal--Seeley 1 run (Chudy kick)

Sal--Seeley 46 run (Chudy kick)

Starting at /week.