It was not the Marauders.

Thanks to a 42-point first quarter, the Falconer-Cassadaga Valley-Maple Grove Golden Cougars played spoiler to the Dunkirk Marauders homecoming celebration with a dominant 49-20 victory in a Class B2 football game, Friday, at Dunkirk High School.

“They were just too physical. We knew coming in we weren’t a good matchup for this team,” Dunkirk head coach Mark Benton said. “We obviously have to get stronger to play with teams like this. … Physically, we couldn’t match up with them. That was the bottom line.”

The Golden Cougars (4-2, 4-2 Class B2) could not have asked for a better start. The Marauders (0-6, 0-5 Class B2) were forced to punt on the game’s opening drive within two minutes of action, but the punt was blocked and recovered at the Dunkirk 12-yard line. On the very next play, Dalton Caldwell ran the ball up the middle for a touchdown to give the visitors an early 7-0 lead.

OBSERVER Photo by Jason Bower Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove’s Charlie Reichenbach attempts to bring down Dunkirk’s Sincere Sellers during Friday’s game at Karl Hoeppner Field in Dunkirk.

“I think our kids came in ready to play football tonight,” Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove head coach Curt Fischer said. “… We really were focused in practice this week and I think that helped a lot.”

Scoring quickly and easily was a trend for the Golden Cougars in the first quarter. After a Dunkirk fumble, Matt Welsh caught a deep pass from quarterback Lucas Sopak for a 42-yard touchdown on just the Golden Cougars’ second play from scrimmage of the game. That touchdown was one of four first-half touchdowns scored by Welsh — the other three all came on the ground.

“He’s just a great athlete. He can pretty much do anything for us. He’s the go-to guy a lot of times,” said Fischer of Welsh.

Two plays after a Dunkirk pass was intercepted, the Golden Cougars scored their third touchdown of the quarter, this time on a 3-yard run by Cam Bower. That touchdown made the score 21-0, exactly halfway through the first quarter.

Dunkirk responded with the biggest highlight of the game for the homecoming crowd, as Quanteer Neallard took the ensuing kickoff 78 yards for a touchdown. Neallard, who was named homecoming king at halftime, also led Dunkirk with 18 carries for 95 yards and a rushing touchdown, in addition to his kickoff return score.

Falconer-Cassadaga Valley-Maple Grove Golden Cougars senior Matt Welsh (1) carries the ball as Dunkirk’s Frank Wilson chases after him during a Class B2 football game, Friday, at Dunkirk High School. Welsh had four touchdowns in the Golden Cougars victory. OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen.

“Quanteer, he’s so humble. We have a few games to go and I know I’m going to miss him already. He’s going to be very hard to replace,” said Benton. “He’s definitely got the potential to play at the college level.”

Sadly for Dunkirk, the reasons to cheer immediately went away after Neallard crossed the goal line. The extra point by Siera Jacques was blocked by a defender with his hands up right in front of her before her foot even touched the ball. That was also the case on her other extra point attempt later in the game.

After the blocked extra point that kept the score at 21-6, the Golden Cougars answered with a kickoff return touchdown of their own, by Caldwell, accounting for his second touchdown of the game. The Golden Cougars led 28-6 after the kickoff return, which marked four touchdowns for the Golden Cougars while only running four total plays on offense.

“It definitely put us on another level,” Fischer said of his team’s dominant start to the game.

Welsh had touchdown carries of 14 yards and 47 yards in the first quarter, then capped off the first half with an 8-yard touchdown run where he reached the ball over the pylon before being tackled out of bounds with no time left on the clock. His fourth touchdown of the half — the Golden Cougars’ seventh as a team — made the score 49-6 at halftime.

Dunkirk Marauders senior Noah Sikes fights to bring down Golden Cougars ball-carrier Charlie Reichenbach (20) during Friday’s Homecoming football game at Dunkirk High School. OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen.

“Their aggressiveness was taking us out of our game. They are a good program. That’s where we want to be,” said Benton.

Dunkirk added two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, a 22-yard run by Neallard with 10:53 left in the game, and a 1-yard run by Don Jackson, punctuated by a two-point conversion by Neallard on the final play of the game to reach the 49-20 final score.

The Golden Cougars now wrap up the season with two home, non-league games against Silver Creek-Forestville, then Southwestern. Friday’s victory makes it very likely the Golden Cougars will be a playoff team after that.

“We wanted to make the playoffs really bad. To win tonight, I think it pretty much put us in the playoffs,” said Fischer. “That was our goal all week, let’s get in the playoffs. We don’t want help from other people, we want to get in on our own. That was what we were playing for this week.”

The Marauders host Cheektowaga next, on Thursday, in the final Class B2 league game of the year for Dunkirk. The final game of the regular season is the following week against the rival Fredonia Hillbillies at the Orange Bowl on Friday, Oct. 21.

“These next two games are against very good teams,” said Benton. “We are not giving up, we will hang together and move forward.”

Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove 42 7 0 0 — 49

Dunkirk 6 0 0 14 — 20

F-CV-MG–Caldwell 12 run (Paladino kick)

F-CV-MG–Welsh 42 pass from Sopak (Paladino kick)

F-CV-MG–Bower 3 run (Paladino kick)

D– Neallard 78 kickoff return (Kick failed)

F-CV-MG–Caldwell 80 kickoff return (Paladino kick)

F-CV-MG–Welsh 14 run (Paladino kick)

F-CV-MG–Welsh 47 run (Paladino kick)

F-CV-MG–Welsh 8 run (Paladino kick)

D–Neallard 22 run (Kick failed)

D–Jackson 1 run (Neallard run)