Wolfpack cruises past Black Knights in Thursday opener
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SILVER CREEK -- The goal of any team is to start the season with a win. Thursday night, the Clymer-Sherman-Panama (CSP) Wolfpack put a notch in the win column before most of the Section even took a snap.
Following three first-half touchdowns and three interceptions from the defense, the Wolfpack left the rainy conditions at Silver Creek High School with a victory, 35-6, over the Silver Creek-Forestville Black Knights in a non-league game to start the Section VI football season.
"It's disheartening. We thought we were in a pretty good place," said Sean Helmer, Black Knights head coach. "... but our physicality was not there. It just wasn't."
Three Wolfpack players – Blake Beckerink, Gavin Burchanowski, and Bryan Gomez – combined for five touchdowns. The read-option offense of CSP paired with an opportunistic defense for the victory in a game the visitors never trailed.
"I liked the commitment to what we're doing. They bought in right away," said Dave Bodamer, Wolfpack head coach.
Noting that his team dressed 20 players for the game, Bodamer said the focus was on conditioning through an intense training camp leading up to the season opener. Bodamer said, "There's been no whining, no complaining. No matter what we were doing in practice, how much they may not have liked it, they bought in. They did it. They worked their butts off. I'm happy that we were able to get this first win."
Fittingly, even though the results were there, it did not come easily at the beginning. CSP (1-0) turned the ball over on its first drive, as Silver Creek-Forestville (0-1) recovered a fumble as the Wolfpack entered the red zone just over two minutes into the game.
"The turnover was disappointing, however, if we held onto the ball, we felt like we would've finished that drive," Bodamer said.
Helmer agreed. He said, "If we didn't force a turnover, they would've scored."
The momentum flipped back to CSP two plays later, as Will Duliba's first pass of the season was intercepted by Gavin Burchanowski, his counterpart. Bodamer thought following the early fumble that his team needed to get a turnover back to balance the scales, but he did not expect it to happen as quickly as it did.
After Buchanowski's interception set his own offense up in enemy territory, he capped off the short drive with a 4-yard touchdown run for the first six points of the season for either side. After a failed two-point conversion, the Wolfpack led 6-0 with 6:34 left in the opening period.
Following a Black Knights punt, the Wolfpack soon added to the lead with a 1-yard touchdown run up the middle by Bryan Gomez. The Wolfpack added to the lead with a two-point conversion for a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.
The Wolfpack scored a third touchdown in the first half on a 3-yard run by Blake Beckerink with 4:07 left before the break.
Facing a 4th-and-4 from near midfield with just over two minutes remaining in the half, desperately needing a spark, Helmer called a timeout and pulled his punter off the field to go for it. The decision paid off, as Duliba escaped the Wolfpack pass rush and found Alex Januchowski over the middle to convert the first down.
"The play we wanted to run was covered pretty well. Will had a pretty good scramble and he hit Alex," Helmer said. "A little momentum. We needed something to go our way."
For the first time since the opening drive fumble recovery, the Black Knights sideline was energized. The young children serving as ball boys jumped up to celebrate with Silver Creek Security Guard Brian Wagner along the sideline as the offense kept the drive alive.
With just 13 seconds remaining in the half, Duliba rolled to his right and found Jake Anders in the corner of the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown. The score put the Black Knights on the board, trailing at the break, 20-6.
Silver Creek-Forestville received the kick to start the second half, but just as the Black Knights did with their first possession of the first half, Duliba threw an interception.
On the ensuing drive Blake Beckerink took it up the middle for a 1-yard touchdown run to extend the lead. With 6:20 left in the third quarter, following a two-point conversion, the Wolfpack led 28-6.
Gomez added on with another touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter, and the first extra point attempt of the game gave the Wolfpack a 35-6 lead.
"We were terrible defensively. We were not in the right places," Helmer said. "This is exactly what we thought we would see, and we didn't handle it. They handled us."
Following the Wolfpack's fifth touchdown, Duliba responded with his third interception of the game.
"We were our own worst enemy offensively. It is what it is," Helmer said. "The turnovers were not very timely."
Up next, Silver Creek-Forestville will host Falconer-Cassadaga-Maple Grove on Friday, Sept. 11. CSP will host Fredonia on Saturday, Sept. 12 at Sherman Central School.
"I hate the first game. I don't care what it is you think your team has. You've got to get through that first game," Bodamer said after the season-opening victory. "To come out ready to go, I was really proud of them."