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Black Knights fall to Trojans

Silver Creek/Forestville's Hunter Larson is tackled during Friday's game in Lakewood. Photo by Valory Isaacson.

LAKEWOOD — Southwestern stormed its way into the Section VI Class C postseason at Charles A. Lawson Field on Friday night, hitting home on four first-quarter touchdowns on the way to a 49-16 quarterfinal win over Silver Creek/Forestville.

With the win, the Trojans improved to a perfect 8-0.

“They are pretty loaded,” Silver Creek/Forestville Sean Helmer said. “You have athletes all over the field, you have tons of mismatches. I think their offensive line is really good.”

After quickly forcing a three-and-out on defense, Southwestern set to work showing just how many tools its has on the other side of the ball.

Aidan Kennedy started things off with a scramble for 8 yards before Tywon Wright ripped off an 18-yard gain to get the Trojans into Silver Creek/Forestville territory.

Silver Creek/Forestville’s Cole Golembieski looks upfield during Friday’s Section VI, Class C playoff football game against the Southwestern Trojans, in Lakewood. Southwestern defeated Silver Creek/Forestville 49-21 on Friday night to advance to the semifinals. Photo by Valory Isaacson.

Kennedy then hit Zishaun Munir for a 9-yard gain before finding Wright on a 26-yard swing pass off to the right side on third down to give the Trojans their first score of the day.

The opening drive of the night was a sign of more to come, as Southwestern continued to roll on offense through the opening 12 minutes.

On their second drive of the night Kennedy’s new favorite target was Dom Certo, who started things off with a 45-yard catch on a deep ball down the right side.

After that play, Southwestern went back to the well and found it full, as Kennedy dropped another gem into Certo’s hands for a 21-yard score on the same route into the end zone.

“It’s just confidence,” Southwestern coach Jake Burkholder said of Kennedy’s play. “Between meetings and watching film and spending time with coach (John) Kinder and all that he is just getting very, very confident and it’s the perfect time for that to start.”

Before the opening quarter was done, Wright would rip off a 42-yard run to the end zone, repeating that performance with a 55-yard rush to paydirt in the third quarter on his way to 130 yards on eight carries.

The final score of the opening quarter came when Kennedy found Munir wide open on a short post up the middle of the field for a 46-yard catch-and-run.

Munir would carry the ball four times for 22 yards and haul in three catches for 63 yards.

“The kids are learning more. They are getting more comfortable, we’re spreading things out a little bit. That makes it more difficult for people to game plan for us,” Burkholder said. “We’ve got several weapons, we have kids that — it’s going to be tough for people to spread out and cover. The more we can get them involved the more people have to plan and the more options we have.”

Southwestern would add to its margin in the third when Kennedy finished off a drive with a jump ball that was tossed up to Conrad Thomas from 7 yards out.

The 6-foot-5 wideout rose up over his defender on that catch to make it 35-0 Trojans.

Southwestern’s second unit would earn the final score of the day as Austin Rott entered the game and hit Nate Johnson on a 42-yard throw.

Johnson would also post strong punt and kick return numbers for the hosts, with Southwestern rarely suffering poor field position.

The Black Knights would fight back in the final quarter of play with a pair of rushing touchdowns, leaving Burkholder with some advice for his team in the postgame huddle.

“We just have to have the same intensity no matter who is in the game,” said the Southwestern interim coach. “The last couple of games we’ve had a little bit of a letdown and just not had that same fire that we have with our first group. So we really need to pick that up going forward because we need depth, we need to be able to have that confidence.”

Southwestern advances to face the winner of today’s matchup between C South No. 3 Chautauqua Lake and C North No. 2 John F. Kennedy.

NOTES: Thomas grabbed seven tackles, including three for a loss, Calvin Ricker nine tackles and Cooper Pannes eight tackles with two coming for a loss. … Kennedy went 10 for 13 with 229 yards and four scores

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