Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove could have folded, but instead they turned to a couple of other runners in their stable of backs.

Sophomore Bradyn Fuller ran 18 times for 133 yards and two touchdowns while fellow sophomore Roger Markham added 10 carries for 82 yards and also caught a touchdown as the Herd beat the Huskies 28-6 on Friday at Bill Race Field.

“I have two or three that really can run the ball,” Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove head coach Curt Fischer said.

Senior Lucas Sopak went 8 of 14 for 102 yards and two touchdowns as Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove’s totaled nearly 350 yards of offense.

Photo by Steve Garvey Herd quarterback Lucas Sopak makes a throw in Friday’s game against Olean at Bill Race Field in Falconer.

“We would like to be throwing the ball a little bit more,” Fischer said. “Our patterns weren’t really crisp tonight. We’re obviously going to work on that.”

As impressive as the Herd was with the ball, they may have been even better when Olean had the ball. The Huskies ran for just 14 yards on 18 carries and while sophomore quarterback Joe Mest threw for 146 yards through the air, he also was intercepted twice.

“Our down four played really well,” Fischer said of linemen Kolden McCall, Luke VandeVelde, Devyn Morrison and Landon Jones. “Our defense played really good tonight. I thought our defensive backs did a nice job and covered well. Our linebackers, we have some work to do there, but we’ll be OK.”

Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove found the end zone for the first time late in the first quarter after a 10-play drive covering 67 yards. The biggest gain of the drive was a 12-yard pass from Sopak to Roger Markham on second-and-5 around midfield. Fuller capped the drive with an 11-yard touchdown run that made it 8-0 after Sopak’s 2-point conversion run.

Midway through the second quarter, the Herd made it 16-0 after a seven-play 32-yard drive that started in Olean territory after a bad snap on a punt. Sopak kept the drive going with a third-down completion to Jacob Roth for 12 yards before throwing an 11-yard touchdown pass to Mathis Baehr on fourth-and-5. Baehr also added the 2-point conversion on a pass from Sopak.

Photo by Steve Garvey Herd running back Bradyn Fuller looks for room to run.

The Huskies scored their lone touchdown less than four minutes later when Noah Gallo caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Mest on third-and-goal, but the 2-point conversion pass failed.

Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove put together a quick scoring drive before the first half was over, marching 62 yards in seven plays over three minutes of game time. Sopak threw a jump ball to Markham in the corner of the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown with 56 seconds left in the second quarter.

The only score of the second half came on the Herd’s first drive of the third quarter when Fuller scored his second touchdown of the game from 13 yards out to make it 28-6 after a failed conversion run.

“Without the scrimmage anymore, it kind of stinks. You only have two weeks to get ready for that first game,” Fischer said. “There are a lot of things we need to clean up. I think we had about 72 penalties.”

Olean took a shot deep on its next drive, but Roger Markham took the ball away from his receiver for an interception inside the 20-yard line and ran it back to around midfield.

“I can’t believe he made that. He was burnt on that. I thought they were going to score on that,” Fischer said. “He’s one of the fastest kids I’ve ever coached. He showed that.”

Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove was content to run out the clock from there and get ready for next Friday’s Class C South opener against Fredonia back at Bill Race Field. The Hillbillies host Randolph in their nonleague opener tonight.

“We have to be a lot better to play Fredonia,” Fischer said. “They throw the ball really well. They are really experienced so they are going to be dangerous.”

NOTES: Kole Hawkins was in on 10 tackles, including one for a loss, and tipped two passes; David Markham was in on eight tackles; Roger Markham was in on seven tackles and had one interception; and Jacob Roth had an interception for the Herd. … Mest completed 13 passes for 146 yards with Austin Miles catching five passes for 79 yards for the Huskies.

Olean 0 6 0 0 — 6

F/CV/MG 8 14 6 0 — 28

F/CV/MG–Fuller 11 run (Sopak run)

F/CV/MG–Baehr 11 pass from Sopak (Baehr pass from Sopak)

Ole–Gallo 7 pass from Mest (pass failed)

F/CV/MG–RMarkham 20 pass from Sopak (run failed)

F/CV/MG–Fuller 13 run (run failed)