Leading off today: Senior Carson Peters' third field goal of the game, a 30-yarder with 26 seconds to play, gave defending NYSPHSAA Class AA champion Jamestown a 34-33 football victory over Niagara Falls on Saturday.
Peters converted earlier from 17 and 23 yards in the first quarter, but Jamestown would find itself 15 points behind with under 10 minutes to go.
"I've never kicked a field goal (in a game until Saturday)," Peters said. "I did what I was told and I got the job done."
Senior quarterback Nikkolas Holland (305 passing yards, 89 on the ground) hit Jeremy Olds on a 44-yard scoring play and then capitalized on linebacker Jack Breen's fumble recovery deep in Niagara Falls territory by running in for a 10-yard TD to pull Jamestown within 33-31 with 7:06 left. The Raiders got the ball back at the Niagara Falls 25 with 1:34 left for their final possession.
"We really preach when adversity hits, we have to fight through it and win the next play," Holland told The Post-Journal. "That's the real mentality of our team."
Crusaders open strong: Whereas Jamestown was its association's champion in 2014, Canisius entered the season as the defending New York State Sportswriters Association No. 1 by virtue of its CHSAA championship last fall.
On Saturday in Syracuse, the Crusaders opened with a 28-7 win over a Shenendehowa team that may very well defend its Section 2 large-school championship.
Senior Tyler Stranahan made his first start as varsity QB and threw for 295 yards with three touchdowns in the win in the Carrier Dome.
"He was the MVP of the game," Canisius coach Rich Robbins told The Buffalo News. "To play in the Carrier Dome for his first start, he answered the bell. He threw the ball well and ran when he needed. He managed the offense out there on a big stage and that's going to help us moving forward."
Aquinas opens strong: Four Aquinas seniors already hold scholarship commitments from FBS college football programs. The two-way starter and special-teams demon who'll be the fifth on that list got off to an electrifying start at the Carrier Dome.
Earnest Edwards scored four first-half TDs -- including a 90-yard kickoff return to start the contest -- for the Little Irish in a 33-20 win over Syracuse CBA in a game that was not nearly as close as the score indicated. He holds one offer (University at Buffalo) but figures to get a whole bunch of new interest not long after classes resume after the holiday weekend.
"The hunger for him is just unbelievable," linebacker Jamir Jones, a Notre Dame recruit, told the Democrat and Chronicle. "When we were young, all we ever talked about was getting scholarship offers and playing Division I. When teams were kind of hesitant, it just fueled his fire even more. He was working hard every single day, lifting, getting in the weight room, especially."
Said Penn State-bound quarterback Jake Zembiec (14 of 18, 194 yards): "Obviously, we feel like he's a little underrated."
Zembiec hit Edwards on two TD passes, including a beautiful 28-yard fade to the outside shoulder, as Aquinas raced to a 33-0 lead. Edwards' fourth score was a 41-yard pick-6. Edwards also returned an interception for a score in his previous appearance in Syracuse, a win over Monroe-Woodbury in the 2013 New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class AA final.
That was close: After having what appeared to be the winning touchdown pass called back on a fourth-down holding penalty moments earlier, Arlington regrouped and stunned North Rockland 20-13.
Justin Leigh connected on a 16-yard TD pass to Andrew Buckhout with :02 left.
The winning drive was helped by a costly late-hit flag, a
