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Dunkirk heads to Cheektowaga for the first round of playoffs

Dunkirk's Quantavis Kleckley.

CHEEKTOWAGA — It might almost feel like deja vu for the Dunkirk Marauders football team.

Last year they took their undefeated season up against Fredonia and lost just a week before the start of the playoffs. Now, they are facing the exact same scenario in 2018.

The Dunkirk Marauders football team will make their return to the playoffs again tonight, facing the same opponent who knocked them out just a year ago in Cheektowaga.

Dunkirk (6-1, 5-seed) is coming off a devastating loss to Fredonia/Brocton last week in which they just couldn’t get anything going offensively, leading to a 35-6 loss in the Orange Bowl.

“I think a lot of people forget that we just went 6-1,” said Dunkirk head coach Mike Sarratori. “We played a good Fredonia team and played our worst game of the year.”

For this weeks case, the Marauders would love to see it play out like the beginning of last years playoffs did, when Dunkirk came in and defeated Albion, this years No. 1 seed, 25-6 to move on to the Class B semifinals.

“We clinched a playoff birth for the fourth year in a row and all we need to do is win two games and we’re back to where we were [in the finals],” said Sarratori.

However, today’s game might present the Marauders with a little bit of a tougher task having to go up against second-team All-WNY quarterback Keshone Beal for Cheektowaga. Beal returns this season after leading the Warriors to a Class B championship and a ride to the state playoffs last season. With Beal’s ability to throw the ball, the Marauders secondary is going to have their hands full.

“Beal is a beast,” said Sarratori. “He spreads you out and has a good arm but the best part about his game is he can run with it.”

“We definitely have our hands full, but we’ve had one of the best defenses all year until last week against Fredonia. I have confidence in our defense.”

“All we have to do is play to our potential and we’ll be fine,” said Sarratori. “I don’t care who we play if it’s Cheektowaga, Pioneer, or Fredonia again. We have a good team.”

Aside from the Warriors’ offense, Cheektowaga has only allowed 40 points all season to opponents, 33 of them came in their only loss on the season to Pioneer back in Week 4. Knowing that, the Dunkirk offense is going to have their work cut out for them.

“We’re going to stay within our strengths and our identity as an offense,” said Sarratori. “Nothing is going to be easy but we definitely have to limit the negative plays and were going to do our best to sustain drives.”

There’s no doubt the Marauders are going to continue to try and get the play in the hands of their biggest playmaker in Quantavis Kleckley. Kleckley has racked up 1190 yards and 14 touchdowns on the season, and for Dunkirk to continue to have success, he’ll need to have a big game. The Marauders will also look to get young quarterback Phil Messina going early as well as Rocky Radcliffe in the run game to spell Kleckley.

Cheektowaga (6-1, 4-seed) is coming off of a big win against cross-town rival Maryvale in a 19-7 grind-it-out victory last Friday night. With conditions looking clear, the Warriors will most likely rely on their air attack with Beal looking for his top targets in Jayden Dubard and Tamell Bass.

“We definitely need to control Beal,” said Sarratori. “We can’t give them any easy touchdowns. One the other side of the ball, we need to establish our three to four yards a play and wear them down. What that’ll do is give us confidence. It’s a tough task — but if we doing those things we’ll be alright.”

The game will be played at Cheektowaga High School and kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

The Marauders are hoping to rewrite their script from last season, and flip it in their favor with a win over Cheektowaga.

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