Sometimes a team — especially a young team — has to lose before it can learn how to win.
A week after watching Bath-Haverling erase a 7-0 deficit with 18 unanswered points in the second half, Wayland-Cohocton again took a lead into the break Friday night at the Cohocton Sports Complex.
Batavia wouldn’t be as fortunate as Bath.
Quarterback CJ Ellis went 9-for-10 with two touchdowns and the Way-Co defense stopped Batavia’s last-second gasp for a potential game-tying touchdown, as the Eagles hung on for a 21-14 victory on Homecoming.
Lesson learned.
“Last week we played similar, and we had a total meltdown in the second half,” said Wayland-Cohocton head coach Joe Sabo. “I told the kids it’s not going to happen this week, and they rose to the occasion.
“I thought we played pretty steady. We made our share of mistakes, but I think we helped cause some of their mistakes too. We got some turnovers. We didn’t give up. It was a tough game. I’m sure it was a good one to watch from the stands.”
Indeed, fans remained on their feet even after the clock hit 00:00. After going nowhere on what appeared to be the final play of the game, Batavia got a reprieve when Wayland-Cohocton was whistled for holding in the secondary.
The penalty moved the ball up to the 18-yard-line, giving the Blue Devils one final shot at the end zone. Brett Scheuerlein’s pass to Justin Washington fell incomplete on the five-yard-line, and the celebration was on for the Eagles (2-4), who forced three turnovers and never trailed against Class B Batavia (3-3).
“Turnovers, lack of focus, lack of discipline — just overall it was a terrible game for Batavia tonight,” said Blue Devils head coach Brennan Briggs, whose squad played Hornell to a 14-14 halftime stalemate last week. “There’s nothing more to be said. It came down to executing.
“We had some guys make plays, and we shot ourselves in the foot too many times. If something was going good, then we’d get a fumble, an interception, a personal foul. It’s a lack of discipline, and it’s going to be taken care of on Monday.”
Wayland-Cohocton’s first and only score of the second half was set up by a turnover. Senior defensive tackle Connor Mark tipped a Scheuerlein pass at the line of scrimmage and gathered the ball in for the interception in traffic, halting Batavia’s opening drive at midfield.
Sometimes a team — especially a young team — has to lose before it can learn how to win.
A week after watching Bath-Haverling erase a 7-0 deficit with 18 unanswered points in the second half, Wayland-Cohocton again took a lead into the break Friday night at the Cohocton Sports Complex.
Batavia wouldn’t be as fortunate as Bath.
Quarterback CJ Ellis went 9-for-10 with two touchdowns and the Way-Co defense stopped Batavia’s last-second gasp for a potential game-tying touchdown, as the Eagles hung on for a 21-14 victory on Homecoming.
Lesson learned.
“Last week we played similar, and we had a total meltdown in the second half,” said Wayland-Cohocton head coach Joe Sabo. “I told the kids it’s not going to happen this week, and they rose to the occasion.
“I thought we played pretty steady. We made our share of mistakes, but I think we helped cause some of their mistakes too. We got some turnovers. We didn’t give up. It was a tough game. I’m sure it was a good one to watch from the stands.”
Indeed, fans remained on their feet even after the clock hit 00:00. After going nowhere on what appeared to be the final play of the game, Batavia got a reprieve when Wayland-Cohocton was whistled for holding in the secondary.
The penalty moved the ball up to the 18-yard-line, giving the Blue Devils one final shot at the end zone. Brett Scheuerlein’s pass to Justin Washington fell incomplete on the five-yard-line, and the celebration was on for the Eagles (2-4), who forced three turnovers and never trailed against Class B Batavia (3-3).
“Turnovers, lack of focus, lack of discipline — just overall it was a terrible game for Batavia tonight,” said Blue Devils head coach Brennan Briggs, whose squad played Hornell to a 14-14 halftime stalemate last week. “There’s nothing more to be said. It came down to executing.
“We had some guys make plays, and we shot ourselves in the foot too many times. If something was going good, then we’d get a fumble, an interception, a personal foul. It’s a lack of discipline, and it’s going to be taken care of on Monday.”
Wayland-Cohocton’s first and only score of the second half was set up by a turnover. Senior defensive tackle Connor Mark tipped a Scheuerlein pass at the line of scrimmage and gathered the ball in for the interception in traffic, halting Batavia’s opening drive at midfield.
The Eagles promptly went the other direction, capping the series off with a nine-yard strike from Ellis to tight end Darren Becker on a play-action pass.
Batavia marched to the 27-yard-line on its next drive, but a fumble on a third-and-two was recovered by Homecoming King Jordan Rizzieri.
“They had some offensive success against us, but nothing real huge,” said Sabo. “Not giving up any real big plays obviously helped us. What they did get, they had to earn most of it. We didn’t give much up tonight.”
Batavia finally broke through with 5:18 left in the fourth quarter on a 12-yard pass from Scheuerlein to Cody Swimline. Washington caught the two-point conversion on a fade to the back of the end zone.
The youthful Eagles, who returned less than a handful of players from last year’s sectional finalist, stayed cool under pressure.
Ellis hit Reece Chapman for two big first downs on Way-Co’s ensuing possession, bleeding precious minutes off the clock. Dan Wilkinson’s punt had plenty of hang time, allowing Mark to rumble downfield and spin Scheuerlein to the ground as soon as he fielded the kick.
Batavia took over on its own 29 with no timeouts and 1:39 left on the clock. Scheuerlein hit Swimline for 23 yards on a fourth-and-10 to keep the drive alive, but the Blue Devils couldn’t cap the comeback.
“The only credit I’ll give them tonight is saying when they’re backs are against the wall, they will compete,” Briggs said. “They won’t give up. That was a testament to them, but you have to tip your hat to Way-Co. They came in with some distractions this weekend with Homecoming and they played a great game.”
Just before the Homecoming celebrations took over the field at halftime, the Eagles defense stuffed Batavia on a fourth-and-two on the 10-yard-line with 50 seconds left in the first half.
“I told them after, it’s tough to get that close and not get in just before half, or vice versa for us if they had scored,” Sabo said. “Whichever way it goes, it hurts that team. That was a big stop for us. That put us right where we needed to be at halftime.”
Both squads scored on their opening possession of the game. Ellis connected with Austin Lindsey on a 19-yard touchdown pass, while Batavia answered with a 15-yard scoring run from Washington.
The extra point missed, and Way-Co stole back the momentum when sophomore sensation Devon Harris returned the kick 85 yards to the end zone. Batavia largely bottled up Harris on the ground, limiting him to 28 yards on 15 carries, but the recent addition to the roster has now scored in all three games since joining the varsity before a 28-26 win over Wellsville.
“We scouted him all week,” Briggs said. “We knew what he could do, but you can know what they’re going to do and coach against it, but you still have come out and execute. We had a breakdown (on the kickoff).”
Chapman led Way-Co with 57 yards on seven carries. Rizzieri chipped in 15 yards as the trio of backs rotated in and out.
“What’s good about it is we can spell people,” Sabo said of the RB depth. “We’ve had years where we only had a couple backs, or maybe a third back that wasn’t of quite the same caliber. We’d have trouble late in the game where we’d just be out of steam.
“The nice thing about Harris is he’s fast enough to keep the defense honest. Even if he doesn’t get a lot of yards, he makes them play the whole width of the field.”
Ben Hazlauer caught three passes at key moments for 35 yards. Becker and Chapman both had two grabs. Ellis was nearly perfect, finishing 9-of-10 for 93 yards. His only incompletion slipped from Hazlauer’s grasp into Scheuerlein’s hands for an interception. The junior also rushed for 24 yards on four carries.
“CJ had a good week in practice,” Sabo said. “I’ve told him a few times that he’s not throwing with authority. He was kind of pointing it and hoping it gets there. He threw with authority tonight, and we caught the ball. We’ve had trouble catching the ball this year. I thought CJ did a pretty good job throwing the ball tonight.”
Corey Rumsey led the Way-Co defense with 10 tackles. Mark had six, along with two pass deflections and the interception. Mason Hamilton added a fumble recovery for Way-Co, which has rekindled its sectional hopes with a 2-1 run over the past three weeks.
The Eagles close out the regular season by hosting Dansville in the annual “Backyard Brawl” Friday.
“I think if we can win next week against Dansville — of course that’s our arch-rival and who knows how that’s going to go — but I think we can get in if we win next week,” Sabo said. “We’ll see how it ends up.”
Game notes: Sabo was given a Lifetime Achievement Award in a surprise ceremony just before kickoff. Check the Evening Tribune for a full story on the Award later this week … Rizzieri was the Homecoming King, and Chelsea Bartlett was named the Queen … Heidi Brooks Grimins, Rose Marie Fox and Jim Uhl Karcanes were inducted into the Way-Co Hall of Fame at halftime … Check eveningtribune.com for a photo gallery and video from the game.
