Unfortunately for the Hillbillies, the Portville defense came up with a big stop on fourth down on the ensuing drive and took the breath out of the Fredonia comeback as Portville held on for the 20-6 Section VI Class C South victory that clinched them a home playoff game.

“We made adjustments at halftime,” stated Fredonia head coach Greg Sherlock. “I didn’t panic. Sometimes you’re fighting the clock at that point in time, but we stayed patient and it showed. You can’t give a good team that many opportunities.”

The Hillbillies started the game on offense after a short kick by the visiting Panthers. Fredonia did what worked early last week and went to the ground game. Portville, however, did their homework and was prepared for it as they forced a turnover on downs on a big fourth and one stand on the first drive.

The Portville offense had no trouble out of the gate in going to their skill players Dalton Tobola and Jayden Lassiter. Tobola and Lassiter accounted for most of the Panthers’ yards on the opening drive, but Fredonia did force a big fourth down.

Fredonia wide receiver Tyler Putney (5) attempts to make a one-handed catch during Friday’s Class C South football game, at the Orange Bowl, in Fredonia. OBSERVER Photo by Ron Szot.

On fourth down, the Panthers went for it and it paid off as Lassiter broke to the outside for a huge 30-yard touchdown run and gave Portville the early 7-0 lead.

“He’s been doing it all year,” Coach Brooks stated about Jayden Lassiter. “He’s leading Section VI in touchdowns, he still doesn’t get much attention… he uses that as a chip on his shoulder. Jayden is heck of a back, but we’ve got a heck of a offensive line, as well.”

After both teams went to the ground game it made for a short first quarter that the Panthers led 7-0. Portville had the ball in the early going of the second quarter and the ‘Billies defense got them pinned inside their own 10-yard line and forced 4th down again.

The next play was a pivotal point in the game as the Panthers faked the punt in their own end and got a huge first down on a pass across the middle.

Portville continued to pound the ground and they marched down into Fredonia’s territory. Lassiter capped off the drive with another touchdown run, but the PAT hit the goal post and made it 13-0 halfway through the second.

Fredonia needed a response before halftime, but was unable to get the offense clicking. On fourth and long, they turned over on downs again as Portville sent the blitz and caused an intentional grounding.

Instead of Fredonia scoring before halftime, it was the Panthers with another chance just inside the two minute warning. On third and long, Lassiter did it again and shedded a tackle on his way to a back breaking 43-yard touchdown run to go up 20-0 before half.

On Homecoming Night, the Fredonia football team would not go down quietly.

“I gotta give it to Fredonia,” stated Coach Brooks. “What a great atmosphere. We’ve never been over here, being in Portville. Fredonia came to play, they played hard and we played hard as well.”

Fredonia quickly got the Panthers off the field and orchestrated their best drive of the game.

After getting just one reception in the first half for negative yardage, the successful started to open up some more passing options. The ground game still seemed to be where Fredonia was finding their best gains and it eventually got them into the red zone. Jake Skinner got the Hillbillies on the board with a 6-yard touchdown run, but a missed 2-point conversion made the score 20-6.

“We had a long discussion amongst coaches at halftime,” stated Coach Sherlock. “We looked at a lot of video. I saw where we could attack them best, but when we did that I thought we had a great gameplan coming out.”

Fredonia’s crowd erupted on the following play as Troy Lanski recovered a huge onside kick. Just when it looked like the ‘Billies squad might rally with after two big plays by seniors, the Portville defense stood up to the challenge.

“They’re truly our leaders,” Sherlock stated about the seniors. “They’ve been at this for a long time, people like Christy and Gardner and Skinner came up as sophomores and they mean a lot.”

Portville was in their own end and face a fourth down, they came up big as the defense was able to contain the shifty quarterback Nick Whitfield and stopped him from gaining the first down on the scramble.

Immediately after the turnover on downs, Portville nearly fumbled, but it was recovered by the quarterback Hunter Griffin. On the next play, second and long, Griffin aired it out and connected with Tobola in Hillbillies’ territory and with the effective running game the Panthers were able to chew up clock.

Fredonia had a few more sniffs at big plays, but were unable to connect on anything. Portville officially iced the game inside the two-minute warning when Blake George picked off Whitfield targeting the endzone and the Panthers kneeled out the clock for the 20-6 victory in Fredonia.

“First half we didn’t play well, second half we played really well,” stated Coach Sherlock. “It’s just a tale of two halves. We just didn’t score enough… we had our opportunities though.”

The Hillbillies will be back next week for a non-league game against rival Dunkirk, a final tuneup before the playoffs.