“He got us out of some problems there,” Fredonia head coach Greg Sherlock said about his quarterback Nick Whitfield. “He really extends plays and in high school if you can extend plays and look downfield that’s huge.”

The Hillbillies started exactly how they wanted to, with two consecutive drives that found themselves in the end zone. Jake Skinner carried the offense in the early going as he rushed for 59 yards in total on the first drive and capped it off with a 5-yard touchdown, Dalton Gardner then caught the 2-point conversion, 8-0.

On the second drive, Fredonia pounded the ground between Skinner and Gardner carries. They capped off that drive with a Whitfield rushing touchdown and another Gardner 2-point conversion, 16-0.

The Thunderbirds saw the big deficit in the early second quarter, but it didn’t faze them, as they wouldn’t go down like that on Westfield and Brocton’s Senior Night. The T’Bird offense went to the air and got a long touchdown reception from Luke Ormsby, then followed up with a 2-point conversion, 16-8, to give them life before halftime.

Fredonia quarterback Nick Whitfield (6) scrambles during the first half of Friday’s Class C South football game against the Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton Thunderbirds at Westfield Academy. OBSERVER Photo by Roger Coda.

The Thunderbirds offense woke up in the second half and started moving like a well-oiled machine. They made it down to the five and a Ryan Jafarjian 5-yard touchdown run made it a ball game, and the 2-point conversion tied it 16-16.

The T’Birds defense came up big after tying the game as they forced Fredonia to turnover on downs. The offense continued to click as Zach Martin was hitting open receivers and Jafarjian was running downhill.

Jafarjian gave the home crowd something to cheer for when he broke free with a 28-yard run to give them the lead, 23-16.

“We kept our composure,” Thunderbirds head coach Bryan Bongiovanni said about his team’s ability to come back. “We preach do your job each play. Our guys didn’t get too rattled, they just went one play at a time, and before you knew it, we were right back in the game.”

In the fourth quarter, Fredonia found out they needed to find some success through the air as the T’Birds adjusted to the Hillbillies run game. Whitfield connected with Gardner on a game changing 50-yard touchdown across the middle and made it 23-22 after the failed conversion.

Whitfield and the Hillbillies capped off the comeback on the final drive with his big 22-yard touchdown pass to Krzyzanowicz, giving them the 28-23 win as time expired.

STATS: Whitfield finished 9-for-17 for 138 yards passing, with five carries for 30 yards rushing. He had three total touchdowns. … Skinner finished with 122 yards on 15 carries with a touchdown. He also had 13 tackles defensively. … Gardner had two catches for 82 yards and a touchdown, along with five carries for 22 yards. He also had a pair of two-point conversions and six tackles defensively. … Krzyzanowicz had five catches for 54 yards and the game-winning touchdown.