OBSERVER Photo by Ashleigh Brown
Dunkirk’s Dylan Bankoski tries to shake a tackle attempt by a Springville defender during Thursday’s Class B3 football game at Karl Hoeppner Field in Dunkirk.
DUNKIRK — The Springville Griffins began Thursday’s game in Dunkirk with an opening drive of more than 10 minutes, capped off by a 35-yard field goal for an early lead.
While 10-minute drives and 35-yard field goals are not common in high school football, the scoreboard showed a familiar result for the struggling Dunkirk Marauders.
Thanks to three touchdowns to follow the opening field goal, including a fumble return for a score, the Griffins held a 24-0 lead at halftime and closed out a scoreless second half to secure the victory in a Class B3 high school football game on Thursday night at Dunkirk High School.
Through the first two weeks of the season, the Griffins (3-0, 2-0) had not allowed a point with two shutout victories, while the Marauders (0-3, 0-3) were blown out twice, including last week’s 58-0 loss at Lackawanna. Both of those trends continued on Thursday, as the Marauders could not get anything going offensively.
“Their defensive front is fantastic, I don’t want to take anything away from that. But, to be honest, there were a lot of mental mistakes on our end,” Dunkirk head coach Edwin Gomez said. “It felt like, to me, we weren’t mentally here.”
OBSERVER Photo by Ashleigh Brown
Dunkirk’s Gabriel Valentine looks for running room during Thursday’s Class B3 football game at Karl Hoeppner Field in Dunkirk.
Each team only possessed the ball once in the opening quarter due to the lengthy opening drive for the Griffins. Dunkirk punted on each of its first two drives, while Springville followed with two passing touchdowns to build a 17-0 lead.
Feeling the pressure down three scores, Dunkirk quarterback Gabe Valentine was hit on a scramble and fumbled the ball near midfield. The ball wound up in Springville defender Matt Barry’s arms and he darted down the field for a touchdown. The successful extra point put the Griffins ahead 24-0 with just over four minutes remaining in the first half.
Valentine was replaced on the next drive by Dylan Bankoski, but the immediate result was the same, another fumble. Springville failed to cash in at the end of the half despite the strong field position, but the Marauders still trailed 24-0 at the break.
Things could have gotten even worse after halftime, as Springville recovered an onside kick to open the second half. Instead, Dunkirk finally showed signs of life with an interception by Jaylen McMichael. The Marauders followed the turnover with their biggest play of the game, an acrobatic catch by receiver Jareese Gaines. He reeled in the ball despite being interfered with as he was falling backwards. Frustratingly for Dunkirk, however, even after a big run followed the play, on fourth down, it was called back for holding and the Marauders later turned the ball over to Springville.
“You can’t be a one-half team. I think it would’ve been a closer game if we would’ve come out and had our foot on the gas from the jump,” Gomez said.
Dunkirk did not threaten much for the remainder of the game, as Springville was content to run the clock out with a run-heavy approach throughout the contest.
“Any time you can control the game clock, it tends to go your way,” Gomez said. “… Kudos to them. They came in and outplayed us on the ground.”
Up next, the Marauders host the Olean Huskies next Friday in another Class B3 matchup. Springville travels to Maryvale next Friday.
“We’ve got five games left. We still could come out with a winning record,” Gomez said. “Some changes have to be made, clearly. … At the end of the day, it’s my job to get these kids ready, and right now, it’s how I need to make changes to get us to where we need to be.”