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Salamanca hands Herd first Class C South loss

By SCOTT KINDBERG 4 min read

FALCONER -- Ethan Baxter tossed three touchdown passes in his quarterbacking debut and junior Taydence Stevens returned an interception for a clinching score to lead Salamanca to a 36-22 victory over Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove in a Class C South football game at Bill Race Field on Thursday night.

"We haven't had a good feeling for a while," Warriors head coach Chad Bartoszek said. "It feels good."

Baxter had to be especially happy.

Unofficially, the junior completed 7 of 15 passes for 119 yards and touchdown passes of 6 yards to Stevens, and 15 and 53 yards to junior Remy Follman.

"(Baxter's) been repping in practice, but this is his first game start," Bartoszek said. "It's his first time stepping up and running the show and, man, you saw something come out of him there."

The win, which raised the Warriors' record to 3-4 overall and 3-2 in the division, spoiled the Herd's bid to reward their head coach, Curt Fischer, with a Section VI milestone. Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove, meanwhile, dropped to 5-2 and 4-1.

"The way this season has been going -- and I love these kids and I love our program -- we've had some bad moments, so you have to enjoy what tonight means, because football is hard," Bartoszek said. "I'm going to enjoy this."

The first half ended with Salamanca leading 16-14 as junior Jayden Romero scored on a 1-yard run and Baxter connected with Stevens for the other TD, while the Herd found the end zone on sophomore Ethan Conti's 12-yard pass to junior Reese McKay, and a 4-yard run by senior Dylan Newman, who finished the night with, unofficially, 166 yards on the ground.

"They had us game-planned up pretty good offensively and defensively," Bartoszek said. "They're physically tough. It was tough for us ... early, but I think by the third quarter, we felt we could do this. It was great to see them come together."

The two teams traded touchdowns in the third quarter -- Baxter connected with Follman on the 53-yard strike for Salamanca, while senior Patrick Braley scored on a 1-yard plunge for the Herd -- but the Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove left empty-handed on its first possession after the break when it failed on fourth-and-goal inside the Warriors' 10-yard line.

Entering the final period, the game was tied 22-22.

The last 12 minutes belonged to the Warriors as Baxter connected with Follman for a second time and then Stephens recorded a 30-yard pick-six with just under six minutes remaining to put the game on ice, denying Fischer of his 249th career victory. Tied with Gene Masters with a Section VI-record 248 career victories, Fischer will get another chance a week from today when the Herd entertain Southwestern/Frewsburg.

"We made a couple plays, but we did a couple things we normally wouldn't do and that cost us," said Fischer, who was missing leading tackler and fullback Jaxon Kraft due to injury. "We'll make the adjustments we need to make. We'll be OK."

The Warriors conclude their regular season a week from today when they host Portville/Cuba-Rushford/Bolivar-Richburg.

"Baxter answered the call," Bartoszek said. "He was the gamer tonight. He's had moments in practice where he's made some mistakes and he'd get down on himself and that impacted his playing time. Tonight, we just told him (it's OK) to make a few mistakes, we'll have your back."

Salamanca 8 8 6 14 -- 36

Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove 8 6 8 0 -- 22

Sal--Romero 1 run (Stevens pass from Baxter)

F/CV/MG--McKay 12 pass from Conti (Newman run)

F/CV/MG--Newman 4 run (run fail)

Sal--Stevens 6 pass from Baxter (pass good)

Sal--Follman 53 pass from Baxter (kick fail)

F/CV/MG--Braley 1 run (Hawkins pass from Conti)

Sal--Follman 15 pass from Baxter (Follman pass from Baxter)

Sal--Stevens 30 interception return (run fail)

Starting at /week.