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C/S/P hands Eagles first league loss

By Matt Spielman 5 min read

MAYVILLE -- Clymer/Sherman/Panama put on a defensive masterclass, holding Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton to just 116 yards of offense in a 12-0 Class C South shutout.

"I'm very pleased. The communication tonight and focus was so much better than last week and was definitely an improvement," Clymer/Sherman/Panama head coach Dave Bodamer said. "Pass coverage was strong and we got some pressure up front with our front four."

Armed with a 6-0 lead at halftime, the Wolfpack possessed the ball for the opening 9:18 of the third quarter and then again for nearly six minutes in the middle of the fourth quarter, allowing the Eagles to run just 18 second-half plays.

Clymer/Sherman/Panama forced four turnovers, including a fumble recovery and three interceptions while Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton punted at the end of four other drives.

"Defensively we played really well almost the entire night. I thought (the defense) did a great job of keeping us in the game," Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton head coach Ty Harper said. "It was frustrating. I think they had three different drives where they ate up somewhere around eight minutes of clock. That's a credit to their offense. They did a good job of keeping us off the field."

The Wolfpack opened the scoring at the end of the first quarter when quarterback Gavin Burhanowski ran 72 yards for a touchdown on the opening play of his team's third offensive series.

The Eagles' best drive of the opening 12 minutes advanced to the Clymer/Sherman/Panama 28-yard line, but ended with a fourth-and-12 incompletion.

After receiving the second-half kickoff with a 6-0 lead, the Wolfpack went 45 yards in 19 plays, but the drive stalled with a short completion on fourth-and-11 from the 23-yard line.

But Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton went three-and-out and punted the ball back to Clymer/Sherman/Panama.

"We just did a better job up front and did a better job swarming to the ball. We had made a couple of adjustments to personnel this week. We did a much better job of not running past the ball this week," Bodamer said. "We were more controlled and more disciplined."

Working with a short field, the Wolfpack needed just three plays for Burchanowski to connect with Bryan Gomez for a 20-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it 12-0.

"That was a pivotal play. ... I'm not exactly sure what happened on that play," Harper said. "We felt like we were still in the game at that point, we just needed to put something together on offense."

"Part of this offense is to also be ball control. Week 2 we scored quickly and the defense played quite a bit. That third quarter drive (tonight) we had the ball and didn't score, but we took 10 minutes off the clock," Bodamer said. "To get that second touchdown to start the fourth quarter kind of changed what they had to do."

The Eagles' ensuing drive marched 59 yards in 14 plays, but ended with a fourth-and-5 interception that ended any thoughts of a comeback.

"I think it's more about them and how well they played than us. They played like an experienced group of kids that desperately wanted to win that game," Harper said. "Their experience showed tonight and our experience showed tonight."

Burchanowski led the Wolfpack with 20 carries for 141 yards, including his long touchdown, while completing 8 of 14 passes for 65 yards and the touchdown to Gomez.

"They did a great job taking Blake (Beckerink) away. Before last week's game we had to tell Gavin he could run the ball more than he was choosing to do," Bodamer said. "That first touchdown, especially, was called for him. I'm impressed with him and some other seniors with how they stood up tonight."

Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton (2-2, 2-1), which suffered its first league loss, will host Franklinville/Ellicottville next Friday while Clymer/Sherman/Panama (3-1, 2-1), will host Portville/Cuba-Rushford/Bolivar-Richburg next Saturday afternoon in Panama.

"Maybe last week's loss shouldn't be so frustrating for me. Right off Week 1 we were seeing that this league is crazy. Every week is going to be important. You never know what one bad night can do," Bodamer said. "That's what makes tonight's win so big because we get to keep pace with Chautauqua Lake, even though Falconer did their job."

NOTES: Daniel Redlecki led Clymer/Sherman/Panama with eight tackles, including a tackle for a loss, while Dylan Kriner, Gomez and Colton Hamilton each had seven tackles. Gomez, Burchanowski and Hayden Sexton each had an interception. ... Thandon Bensink led Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton with 13 carries for 61 yards. Gibbs was in on 13 tackles, Lance Franklin had 11 and Trent Ramm had nine.

Clymer/Sherman/Panama 6 0 0 6 -- 12

Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton 0 0 0 0 -- 0

C/S/P--Burchanowski 72 run (run failed)

C/S/P--Gomez 20 pass from Burchanowski (run failed)

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