Salamanca’s State Championship dreams fall eight yards short
By HUNTER O. LYLE, Olean Star
SYRACUSE, NY — For the first time all season, the Warriors found themselves pushed up against a wall.
After leading in the NYSPHSAA Class C State Championship game for the first three and a half quarters, disaster had struck and now the Salamanca football team had just five seconds to save their season. In between them and a state title was what seemed like the longest eight yards on any gridiron.
As Maddox Isaac snapped the ball, the entire season came down to those final moments. Desperately scanning for a target, he rolled to the left, witnessing the pocket collapse and a crew of Schuylerville defenders rushing at him. By then, there was no time left and worse off, no receiver open in the endzone. With zeros on the clock, Isaac was taken to the turf, ending the Warriors’ season with a 26-20 loss in the championship game.
“I’m trying to hold it together for a group of guys that are crushed. That was a heck of a football game and it’s hard for them to wrap their brains around the suddenness of the end of a season in the state finals at the eight yard line. It’s crushing,” said Salamanca head coach Chad Bartoszek. “The message in (the locker room) is that they just learned a heck of a lot about life. Some things aren’t going to go the way you want them to go but if you work hard, believe in yourselves you can accomplish some pretty darn great things.”
Three hours before, Salamanca sat in the locker room with a head full of steam. Not only had they broken through their glass ceiling of the Far-West Regional but they had imposed their will on every team along the way. Through the Section VI Championship, the Warriors had posted over 40 points in every contest and won by an average of 38 points. Moving through the state bracket, Salamanca easily handled East Rochester/Gananda and Chenango Forks in the semifinals, reaching the title game for the first time in 25 years.
It seemed as if they were unstoppable and in the early goings against Schuylerville, it looked as if nothing would, exemplified by a forced fumble on the Black Horses’ very first snap. Getting the ball just 38 yards away from the endzone, the Warriors would quickly close the distance, putting the first points on the board from a pass to Corey Holleran.
However, the Black Horses would respond. Marching down the field with their run-centric offense, Schuylerville took the ball 61-yards for a score just five minutes later. Worst of all, after missing their point-after attempt, Salamanca now trailed 7-6.
The Warriors wouldn’t be able to retaliate until halfway through the second quarter. After a scoreless drive, the Warriors forced a Schuylerville three-and-out. Getting the ball on the Black Horses’ 40-yard line, Salamanca inched their way up the field with small gains at a time. While they had been known to break open the field with massive plays once or twice a game, Schuylerville instead jammed up the middle and contained the edges. Salamanca would have to earn every yard.
“Those battles in between the trenches were tough. They were physical,” said Bartoszek. “There were a lot of short gains. A lot of short yardage. A lot of spaces that we thought maybe we could create that we couldn’t.”
With a mixed bag of carries from Isaac and Xavier Peters as well as short tosses to Holleran and Kyle Lecceardone, the Warriors slowly inched their way into the redzone. Once there, they dared on a fourth-and-four, connecting with Holleran to bring them to the Black Horses’ 11-yard line. Two snaps later, the ball found Zach Trietley in the endzone for an eight-yard touchdown.
Despite missing the 2-point conversion, Salamanca continued to keep Schuylerville at bay, stunting their final drive of the half that ended with a missed field goal. Going into the break, the Warriors clung to a 12-7 advantage.
The entirety of the third quarter consisted of just two drives, one per sideline and each resulting in points on the scoreboard.
Getting the ball first, Salamanca tacked on yards with equal attempts on the ground and in the air. Despite a possession marred in flags – the Warriors lost 25 yards to penalties including what would have been a 45 yard touchdown run from Peters – they remained composed and undeterred. After chewing through eight and a half minutes of clock, Salamanca’s grueling work paid off with a 28-yard carry into the endzone by Peters, his first of the day.
Eager to respond, the Black Horses deviated from their gameplan, now infusing gains through the air into their arsenal. Using short passes to the sidelines backed by tough runs through the trenches, Schuylerville left just 30 seconds on the clock as they streaked 64 yards and across Salamanca’s endzone. Heading into the final quarter, it was just a six-point difference on the scoreboard.
Facing a mounting wave of momentum across the field, the Warriors need a score to gain some confidence and some breathing room. However, their first possession ended in a punt far from the endzone. Their prolific defense would then stumble, allowing the Black Horses to push their way up field with jabs through the middle. Making it to midfield, Schuylerville’s Landen Cumm broke through multiple tackles to find 44 yards of open field, putting up six points to tie the game.
Although Salamanca would block the point-after, keeping the game knotted at 20, the tide had begun to turn. On the ensuing kickoff, an onside kick with a bad bounce deflected off of Salamanca and into the hands of Schuylerville. Taking over on the Warriors’ 39-yard-line, the Black Horses would once again meticulously run the ball, drawing ever so closer to the end zone while also burning through clock. Four minutes after tying the game, Schuylerville took the lead with a 13-yard diving touchdown that barely broke the plain.
For the first time all season, Salamanca was fighting an uphill battle.
Having just over a minute to go the length of the field, the Warriors got to work. Their first two snaps got them across midfield to the Black Horses’ 34-yard-line. Their next attempt found a wide open receiver with an open lane to the endzone, however, the ball slipped through his hands with 24 seconds left.
Now they had to get tricky. Taking the snap, Isaac pitched a shuttle pass to Payton Bradley who in return found Isaac downfield. Surrounded by blockers, he speared his way down to the eight yard line with nine seconds remaining, just enough for a couple more plays. The first of the final attempts found Trietley in the endzone, however, a Black Horse defender knocked the ball loose with a big hit. Five seconds left.
With the game on the line, the undefeated Salamanca Warriors could not find that last play and as Isaac crashed to the ground, their fate was sealed. Their sole loss of the season came in their biggest game.
In his final game as a Warrior, Isaac threw for 99 yards and two touchdowns, completing 61 percent of his passes. Holleran was his main target on the night, tallying 50 yards and a score through the air. On the ground, Peters totaled 117 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. Trietley led the defense with five unassisted tackles while Holleran and Evan Spruce Jr. had four.
“Right now, there’s a lot of disappointment for the kids. I know how hard they worked and their dreams and everything have kind of come crumbling down, but the sun will come up.” said Bartoszek. “You don’t get an opportunity like this very often. On one hand, this one’s going to stay with us forever but on the other hand, we were here and played in a heck of a football game. Over the course of time, hopefully they’ll appreciate it.”
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