Tadriek Johnson returned the opening kickoff 90 yards, and Justin Twarog threw for three TDs as Amherst survived a 248-yard rushing effort from Cameron Smith to beat Lackawanna, 31-20. Friday's Class B West contest helped kick off Week 1 of the high school football season.
Amherst scored 28 points in the first half and mustered a field goal in the second. "We came out flying," said coach Jason Beckman. "The second half we survived a little bit of a momentum swing. It kind of looked like we held tough on defense, kicked a field goal with 4:40 left. The kids did a little bend-but-not break in the second half."
Tigers' RB Maliik Holiday rushed for 122 yards on 22 carries. Twarog was 8 for 12 for 185 yards with three TDs. Johnson had five catches, 103 yards and a score. Defensively, Dion Lewis had 13 tackles and a forced fumble.
Sweet Home 46, North Tonawanda 19: Kahlil Humphrey scored three rushing TDs as the Panthers opened defense of their Class A title with a win over the Jacks. Sweet Home, which totaled 243 rushing yards, led just 7-3 after the first quarter, but started to break the game open with 14 unanswered points in the second quarter and 13 more in the third.
Iroquois 15, Hutch-Tech 14: The Chiefs held the Engineers scoreless in the second half of a non-league season opener played at All High Stadium.
The Chiefs took the lead for good in the fourth when Tyler Miller caught a 50-yard pass from Matt Keating. "We caught them in a blitz, Matt read it well, stepped up and made a great throw," said Iroquois coach Keith Marshall. "Tyler took it in the middle of the field and broke away from everyone. It was a huge play on a third down."
Keating had seven catches for 85 yards and added 61 yards on the ground.
Iroquois kicker Justin Ziegler scored the only points of the first quarter on a 24-yard field goal. Hutch-Tech scored 14 unanswered points in the second quarter to take a 14-3 lead into halftime.
Iroquois scored on its opening drive of the second half, marching 65 yards before Keating scored on a 1-yard run.
Marshall said he substituted liberally in the second half, playing 22 guys on defense, trying to keep players up front fresh because of the heat.
South Park 18, Hamburg 6: Four interceptions and an 18-point third quarter helped the Sparks pick up the Class A South victory at windy Riverside. Tyler Sturges, Maurice Howie, Tyrell Mitchell and Mike DeGrefenre all had interceptions. DeGrefenre added 12 tackles.
"We played fantastic on defense, we put up a couple of big [goal line] stands in the first half," said South Park coach Tim Delaney. "The wind tonight was crazy, it was brutal. It was a game-changer. When you had to go into the wind, you couldn't do anything."
A 45-yard run by Laron Watkins on South Park's first possession of the second half set up a Howie-to-Edgaro Berrios TD and changed the game's momentum. From there Mitchell returned a punt 22 yards for a score, and Howie closed the scoring with a 5-yard run.
West Seneca West 28, Frontier 12: Stephen Walker (124 yards), Kevin Reynolds (113) and Peter Walsh (108) each surpassed 100 yards for the Indians.
East 36, Newfane 6: The Panthers, with a noon kickoff at Johnnie B. Wiley, kicked off the high school football season with a win in Class B East. East coach Starling Bryant said junior QB Jevante Glover "did it all" as he ran for two scores, threw for two more and helped out defensively with nine tackles. He was 8-of-9 passing for 130 yards while battling swirling winds and high humidity.
"We went through tons of water today. I was just happy to get through it," said Bryant.
Pioneer 21, Dunkirk 12: Within the first 2:30 of the second half, Darien Theriault returned a kickoff 85 yards and on the ensuing kickoff he recovered a fumble and later in that drive caught a TD pass.
RB DaJuan Quarels had 145 yards, including an 85-yard TD after he cut back across the field on an off tackle play. Daquan Sylvester had 169 yards on the ground and caught two PAT conversions. WR Julian Hodge had two TD catches among his three receptions.
“We did a very good, these guys can really run,” said Bryant. “We were a little too fast for them. They had a tough time keeping up with our foot speed.”
McKinley 52, Niagara-Wheatfield 0: Jamar Rutledge threw for 254 yards on 7-of-10 accuracy and had three TDs as the Macks won by shutout.
West Seneca East 48, Bennett 6: Scott Ackerman caught two TD passes from Andy Smigiera and rushed for two more scores as the Trojans totaled 407 yards of offense in a Class A South win. Smigiera threw for 174 yards on 7-of-11 passing.
Jamestown 27, Kenmore West 8: Daquan Hollingsworth had two rushing TDs and returned a punt 66 yards to lift the Red Raiders.
Chau. Lake 36, I-Prep Grover 12: Adam Carpenter had 178 yards rushing on 24 attempts and two TDs as Chautauqua Lake opened with a convincing Class D win over I-Prep Grover Cleveland. Ryan Miller added 95 yards on 11 carries, with a 12-yard TD run.
