BROCKPORT – Whoever coined the phrase ‘defense wins championships’ must have had Friday night’s Section V Class D championship game in mind, because offense was certainly at a premium at SUNY Brockport.
And it was No. 3 Canisteo-Greenwood which got the big play when it needed it, while for the first time since Week 2, red-hot No. 1 York/Pavilion was unable to find a way to win.
In a night filled with turnovers, Collin Cox was able to hit Carson Chaffee with a 42-yard strike to set the Chargers up deep in Golden Knights territory with under two minutes to play and three plays later Beau Zeh scored on the ground from three yards out with the only points of the night as C-G stunned Y-P, 6-0, in front of a large crowd.
In all, the Canisteo-Greenwood defense forced five turnovers on the night, while it held the Golden Knights without a first down until well into the second quarter as they put up their second straight impressive performance on that side of the ball to come away with the block.
Following Zeh’s touchdown with 55 seconds to play, York/Pavilion actually was able to fall on a squib kick at its own 47 yard-line as it held out hope. But sophomore quarterback Parker Bonefede was intercepted two plays later at the 10 yard-line by Lucas Mason to seal the win for the Chargers.
For Bonefede, who had an outstanding first varsity season under center, that was his fourth interception of the night, three of which came in impressive fashion by the Chargers.
Neither team was able to get anything going offensively early as they traded three-and-outs until C-G started to get rolling toward the end of the opening quarter.
Following a Golden Knights punt, C-G got things working on the ground with big runs from Paiton Davis and Zeh as the Chargers drove deep into Y/P territory. However, on second and goal from the four, York/Pavilion’s Joe Bauer picked off a seemingly inexplicable halfback pass in the endzone to quell the drive.
The two teams would trade punts and then turnovers to close the half, as the Chargers picked off Bonefede at the 20 as Y/P was driving midway though the second before the Golden Knights’ Jake Pangrazio intercepted Cox at the two yard-line to all but end the opening half.
Canisteo-Greenwood appeared as though it was going to jump ahead in the third.
On its first possession of the second half, York/Pavilion drove eight plays deep into Chargers territory before Bonefede was intercepted by Ashton Davis at the eight yard-line on a fourth and seven with 7:55 left in the third.
On the ensuing drive, the Chargers proceeded to drive 13 plays – including converting on a fourth-and-inches at midfield – before they would fumble on a screen pass with the Knights recovering at their own 28.
Early in the fourth, York/Pavilion put together its best start to a drive of the night as Bonefede mixed passes to Pangrazio and Bauer with runs by Carl Szczech before a big sack and a pair of incompletions would eventually lead to a punt.
That would end up being York/Pavilion’s last scoring chance of the night as its impressive season ended at 8-2.
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