SALAMANCA — It had been a wild two days for the Salamanca football team.
After severe weather alerts forced delays, an eventual postponement and yet another delay the following day, the Warriors were finally able to get through their season-opener against Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton. An affair in which they conquered both the elements and their opposition by a score of 38-14.
Salamanca’s season could not have had a much better start, dropping an Eagles runner for negative yardage, forcing an incompletion and then roping in an interception on consecutive plays to flip the field.
While it took the Warriors offense a little while to warm up, punting to end their first drive of the season, it found its footing and put the scoreboard operator to work after a 46-yard touchdown run by Xavier Peters.
However, Salamanca was only able to complete two drives before adverse weather conditions caused delays and as time ticked by, both teams reached the decision to resume play in Salamanca the following day.
While the weather certainly made coaching, game management and injury prevention much more difficult according to Warriors coach Chad Bartoszek, his players picked up right where they had left off the day prior: matching into the endzone. Having made seven plays of what was an eventual 18-play scoring drive the day before, Salamanca capped off the prolonged series with a 33-yard touchdown catch to Avery Brown to double the lead.
After the game had come to a close, Bartoszek credited the mindset of his players and their ability to remain focussed on the task at hand despite the strange circumstances.
“I don’t like the starting and stopping, because then you start getting into soft tissue injuries, and it’s just unfocused,” Bartoszek said. “As a coach, it was hard to just stay in the mix. … But as a player, you got to be pretty resilient. So, I don’t know how much they think about it, but they handled it well. I was glad the way it went down. … Our kids have been waiting for three weeks for this, it’s good to finally have it over.”
While it was the offense that got things going on Saturday, the Warriors’ defense needed no invitation to keep up the pressure. Led by Peters (five unassisted tackles, sack), Cory Holleran (six unassisted tackles, one interception) and Warrick Kyler, Salamanca’s returning All-State lineman (four total tackles), it put a stop to virtually everything that came its way.
Bartoszek said that he looks for two things in his defense: speed and physicality. He saw both against Chautauqua Lake.
“You combine those two things, we’re hitting, we’re running, there’s not a lot of holes,” Bartoszek said. “It’s not a fun defense to call against I can imagine … there’s just so much coming at you. Our defensive staff is dialed in and we feel comfortable with our personnel right now. … it’s always something we can rely on.”
The Eagles’ first two possessions on Day 2 of the game both ended with a turnover on downs. Salamanca responded with a one-play touchdown drive that saw Peters once again turn on the jets for a big score from 56 yards out, and an even longer scoring play courtesy of Quentin Brown, who took it to the house on an 86-yard catch-and-run.
THE WARRIORS scored just once more after the halftime interval and, once again, flashed its speed on another big scoring play. This time, it was Holleran who added a 73-yard screen pass touchdown to his opening-day resumé.
When it came to the speed this year’s Warriors squad possesses, Bartoszek noted that they “have a vision” for this offense to be dynamic. Peters ran the ball just five times and picked up 129 yards, Brown ran for 37 yards on 15 carries and broke off 87 yards on two passes and Holleran snagged three catches and took those for 94 yards — already only 15 yards short of his total from the previous regular season. With a team like Chautauqua Lake, who boasts a big core of returning players, Bartoszek acknowledged the need for his offense to remain flexible.
“We have a vision here,” Bartoszek said. “It’s not always easy. A big team like (Chautauqua Lake). We couldn’t just buckle down and go right at them. We had to get outside. We had to throw some screens. We had to get the quick pass game going. But, (Peters and Brown) are two real talented running backs who can break it off at any time.”
The Eagles scored once on Salamanca’s starters, who were eventually pulled in the game’s latter minutes, after quarterback Brayden Gibbs connected with Devin Hewes from 11 yards out. In the last few seconds, Chautauqua Lake scored for a final time, via a Thandon Bensink 30-yard run with the two-point conversion ending up a success afterwards.
Bartoszek admitted earlier in the week that Chautauqua Lake was going to be a good test for his players, many of them in starting spots on the varsity squad for the first time. While overall he was satisfied with the win, he said that there’s still plenty to work on.
“I’m sure we had some mistakes,” Bartoszek said. “We’ll dive into the film. I have a feeling we made quite a few mistakes in terms of just X’s and O’s, but attitude, effort, energy was all there and they were all-in. That covers up a lot of (mistakes), but that’s the fun part of coaching, just moving weekly.”
Next up for Salamanca is a date with last year’s league runners-up Portville/Cuba-Rushford. The Warriors and Panthers will square off in Salamanca on Sept. 13 at 7 p.m.
AT SALAMANCA
Salamanca 8 22 0 8 — 38
Chautauqua Lake 0 6 0 8 — 14
First Quarter
Salamanca — Xavier Peters 46 run; Quinten Brown two-point attempt good, 8-0
Second Quarter
Salamanca — Avery Brown 33 pass from Maddox Isaac; Payton Bradley 2 pass from Isaac two-point attempt good, 16-0
Salamanca — Peters, 56 run; Isaac two-point attempt no good, 22-0
Salamanca — Brown 86 pass from Isaac; Isaac two-point attempt good, 30-0
Chautauqua Lake — Devin Hewes 11 pass from Brayden Gibbs; Thandon Bensink two-point attempt no good, 30-6
Fourth Quarter
Salamanca — Cory Holleran 73 pass from Isaac; Holleran two-point attempt good, 38-6
Chautauqua Lake — Bensink 30 run; Nick Jacobson 2 pass from Gibbs two-point attempt good, 38-14
Team Statistics
CL/W/B // Sala.
First Downs 12 // 13
Rushes-Yards 21-126 // 33-197
Passing Yards 155 // 210
Comp-Att.-Int. 10-26-2 // 7-14-0
Total Offense 262 // 407
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 // 1-1
Penalties-Yards 7-40 // 5-35
Total Plays 47 // 47
