Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton’s Nick Jacobson goes over Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove’s Jacob Roth to catch a pass during Friday’s Class C South game in Mayville.
OBSERVER Photo by Jason Bower
MAYVILLE — If there were any doubts about Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton’s football team coming into Week 4, the Eagles very quickly showed they’re the real deal on Friday night against undefeated Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove.
After posting consecutive Class C South victories against teams in the bottom of the division, the Eagles made a statement that they have arrived by scoring 44 unanswered points to deliver the Herd their first loss of the year 44-7.
“The message this week, people have felt the two wins we’ve had didn’t give us quite the credit,” Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton head coach Ryan Gibbs said about his team’s season. “Fredonia is young and it doesn’t look the same as it normally would for them. This statement for this week was ‘let’s show them that we’re actually here’ and tonight I think we did that.”
After struggling to move the sticks on its opening drive, Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton (3-1, 3-1) punted the first possession and Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove’s Mathis Baehr collected the bouncing ball and jetted down the sideline for a 92-yard touchdown.
“You always want your special teams to do well,” Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove head coach Curt Fischer said. “We don’t spend a lot of time on special teams; isn’t that funny? But we did get some breaks with the special teams for sure.”
Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton’s Devin Hewes makes a one-handed catch during Friday’s Class C South game against Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove in Mayville.
OBSERVER Photo by Jason Bower
It looked like the Herd was about to give the Eagles a wakeup call, but that couldn’t have been further from what happened.
Working with a short field after another onside-kick attempt from the Herd, quarterback Brayden Gibbs and his Eagles started to find their groove. Gibbs connected with Devin Hewes over the top on a 23-yard touchdown and a tush push with Gibbs on the 2-point conversion gave the Eagles an 8-7 lead they would never let go of and continue building.
“Mathis is a gamer,” Gibbs stated. “The message was we’ve got our stars and they’ve got theirs. He’s going to make a play, we’re fine. We were fine, we rebounded and the rest is history.”
The Herd (3-1, 2-1) did not give themselves a chance to respond on the following possession when a bad handoff put the ball on the ground for Mason Maring to recover going the other way. Gibbs and Hewes connected again on the next play for a 20-yard touchdown and a Carson Fairbank kick made it 15-7.
The fumbling continued to be a problem for the Herd all night with the most inconvenient leading to a third-straight Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton touchdown. Attempting to gain the momentum back on the Herd’s side, Baehr ran a kickoff into a flurry of Eagles defenders before coughing up the ball to Thandon Bensink, who was stopped just short of a touchdown.
Gibbs kept the ball himself on consecutive plays for another 8 points and Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton built a huge 23-7 lead.
Turnovers were a problem all night for Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove, several times fumbling without the presence of an Eagles defender nearby.
“We work on ball security,” Fischer said about his team. “It’s just one of those nights, everything went wrong. But Chautauqua Lake is a good football team. I said it right from the beginning of the year, I thought they were one of the top teams in the division and they proved it.”
Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove’s best opportunity to score came after Jacob Roth reeled in an interception and led a drive into the redzone. However, Hewes returned the favor by picking off Roth in the endzone and ended the scoring threat.
“It’s nice to see him play with a little confidence,” Gibbs said about Hewes. “We brought him up as a freshman and he’s taken his lumps with the program as you’re aware. He’s playing with confidence and with him and Jacobson next to each other, who are you going to double?”
While Hewes had his hands all over Friday’s game, Jacobson put the nail in the coffin early in the second quarter when Gibbs connected with him on a huge 66-yard catch and run for a touchdown. Jacobson finished with 155 yards and a touchdown on six catches, while Hewes reeled in three passes for 55 yards.
As Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton added to its lead, the Herd’s biggest loss was on the field and not the scoreboard with Baehr getting injured in the first half and not returning.
“He’s such a great athlete and such a great player,” Fischer said about Baehr. “When you lose that, and he was our captain. That’s a little deflating for the football team. Of course we’re just worried about Mathis, I hope he gets healthy because he’s definitely going to play at the next level and we want him healthy for that.”
Bensink put the final exclamation point on the win, punching in a pair of touchdowns on the ground as the Eagles moved into second-place of Class C South.
Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove 7 0 0 0 — 7
Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton 23 14 0 7 — 44
F/CV/MG–Baehr 92 punt return (Carlson kick)
CL/W/B–Hewes 23 pass from Gibbs (Gibbs run)
CL/W/B–Hewes 20 pass from Gibbs (Fairbank kick)
CL/W/B–Gibbs 2 run (Gibbs run)
CL/W/B–Jacobson 66 pass from Gibbs (Fairbank kick)
CL/W/B–Bensink run (Fairbank kick)
CL/W/B–Bensink 3 run (Fairbank kick)