Friday night, it almost seemed like they were saving it all for Fredonia.

The Homecoming game for the Fredonia Hillbillies had a nightmare ending, as Portville hung half-a-hundred on the Hillbillies at the Orange Bowl. Thanks to five touchdowns by running back Jake Ziegler, Portville defeated Fredonia 50-22 in a Class C South football game at Fredonia’s Orange Bowl.

“We have to do a better job of wrapping and tackling,” said Fredonia head coach Greg Sherlock. “It’s something we’ve talked about for the last two years. Believe it or not, we are a little bit better than we were last year, but it’s not good enough.”

Portville (2-2, 1-2) got the ball first and immediately marched down the field for a touchdown on the game’s opening drive. Ziegler capped off the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run after more than five minutes of possession.

Fredonia’s Joey Lancaster attempts to get away from Portville’s Kingston Loucks during Class C South football action at the Orange Bowl on Friday night. OBSERVER Photo by Ashleigh Brown

Fredonia (1-3, 1-3) answered nicely on its first drive, as Ayden Wronski broke free for a long run all the way down to the Portville 10-yard line. After a fumbled snap was fallen on, Fredonia found itself out of the red zone in a goal-to-go situation, but it did not matter. Quarterback Donovan Dowdy eluded the Portville pass rush and took off downfield. Dowdy darted down the Portville sideline for a 21-yard touchdown run to even the score.

The Panthers moved right down the field again on the second drive, but Fredonia forced a fumble in the red zone. Bennett Shephard fell on the loose ball at the Fredonia 4-yard line to give the ball back to his offense with just 28 seconds left in the opening quarter.

But it didn’t end up mattering.

The Hillbillies turned the ball over at their own 25-yard line early in the second quarter, and on the very next play, Portville claimed the lead on a pass to Kingston Loucks, 14-7.

As quickly as Portville reclaimed the lead, Fredonia gave the ball right back to them to add on. A quick slant over the middle of the field went off a Fredonia receiver’s hands and into the arms of a Portville defender for an interception of Dowdy. Ziegler added his second touchdown of the night from 10 yards out to put the Panthers up two scores, 21-7, halfway through the second quarter.

It took less than a minute for Fredonia to answer, as Joey Lancaster dashed down the field for a 61-yard touchdown run. A two-point conversion put Fredonia within six points, 21-15, with 4:38 left in the first half.

Portville’s Aidan Defazio connected with Peyton Carter for a 46-yard touchdown to increase the lead back to two scores, 28-15. Fredonia turned the ball over on downs on its final possession of the half, and Portville ran out the clock to enter the intermission with a 13-point lead.

Early in the second half, Fredonia cut into the Portville lead. Dowdy found Lancaster for a 35-yard completion on a crossing route that began on the right side of the field and came all the way across to the Fredonia sideline. Lancaster took the ball down to the 5-yard line, and Dowdy found Brennan Lincoln for a 5-yard touchdown to bring Fredonia within six points again, 28-22.

“The one thing we talked about at halftime, down by two scores, was that we had to come out and score. We had a plan to do that and we carried it out pretty well,” Sherlock said.

It never did get any closer than that. With 30 seconds left in the third quarter, Fredonia had trouble with a snap on a punt. As a result, Portville was set up in the red zone entering the fourth quarter. As it turned out, the final period belonged not only to Portville, but almost exclusively to Ziegler.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Ziegler had his third touchdown run of the night, from five yards out. Dowdy threw an interception on the next drive, just 34 seconds later.

Ziegler then took a carry downfield for a 46-yard touchdown, his fourth on the night. What was a one-score game entering the fourth quarter was suddenly a three-touchdown lead for Portville in less than two minutes of action.

Dowdy tried to throw Fredonia back into the game with a deep ball to Cayden Rizzo, but after gaining more than 50 yards, Rizzo fumbled as he went to the ground. Portville recovered the ball at its own 7-yard line.

Finally, Ziegler provided the punctuation to the contest with his fifth touchdown run of the night. Ziegler ran the ball right through the middle of the Fredonia defense, and after breaking multiple tackles, he found the end zone for a 71-yard scoring run. It was his third rushing touchdown within less than five minutes of the fourth quarter.

Portville reached the red zone later in the period, but took a knee to run out the clock rather than trying to continue pouring it on. The Panthers decided 50 points, and five rushing touchdowns from Ziegler, was enough offense for one night. By that point, they had already surpassed their total on the season entering Friday’s game.

Fredonia played Friday’s game shorthanded, as several starters were either unavailable or left the game injured. Sherlock still did not use that as an excuse for his team’s performance on Friday.

“We don’t make those excuses. We don’t worry about who’s not here. We have to move on, and there’s a lot of hungry people that want to get playing time,” Sherlock said.

Similar to last season, Fredonia began the season with a win, then hit a slide and it continued to snowball from there. Fredonia ended the 2024 season with seven straight losses. Now, it is up to the Fredonia coaching staff and the players to not let history repeat itself.

Up next, Fredonia hosts Clymer/Sherman/Panama in Class C South action next Friday, while Portville hosts Salamanca next Friday.