Leading off today: Matt Pires ran for 177 yards and three touchdowns on just six carries Friday as
eighth-ranked Somers held off No. 6 Brewster 42-35 in the Section 1 Class A football semifinals.
Messiah Horne ran for 194 yards and two touchdowns for the Tuskers, but Pires' 38-yard TD run on the first play of the fourth quarter put Somers ahead 35-21 to help overcome a series of Tuskers mistakes including three fumbles and a bad snap punt that handed Brewster a touchdown.
Somers' opponent in the championship game will be No. 4 Yorktown, a 34-13 winner when the teams met in the third week of the season.
Yorktown advanced with a 66-42 win vs. Rye, rolling up 461 yards of offense. Junior Brett Makar, who had 300 yards of offense in last week's quarterfinal, put up 147 yards and three TDs in the semi. He also caught two passes for 38 yards and recorded a sack on defense.
More Class A: Goshen quarterback Matt Wierzbicki rallied his team to two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, including a game-winning 14-yard pass to Vinny Maggiori with 47 seconds left to top No. 25 Saugerties 23-19 in the Section 9 semifinals.
The Gladiators (4-5) will play five-time defending sectional champ Cornwall for the title. Cornwall downed Wallkill 42-20 in its semifinal.
Wierzbicki ran for 63 yards and one touchdown and threw for 99 yards and two scores.
• In Section 5, No. 10 Brighton outslugged No. 20 Eastridge 50-36 as senior running back Jason Cunningham finished with 220 yards and three touchdowns on 27 carries.
• In Section 3, Whitesboro senior running back Mike Cirasuolo keyed a 38-0 win over Carthage with 236 yards and two touchdowns in the first half and a career-high 304 yards for the game. He finished with four TDs for the third-ranked Warriors.
Shaker advances: Shaker, ranked 12th in Class AA, turned two interceptions and five sacks into a 35-6 rout of No. 15 Guilderland to reach its fourth final in five years.
The Blue Bison led 14-0 at halftime and seized complete command in the third quarter with three straight sacks. Guilderland's Mete Rice then had his punt blocked by Shaker junior Ryan LaBarge, who returned the ball to the 3. Two plays later, Kwasi Addo scored on a 1-yard run to make it 21-0.
Class B: John Horner rushed for three touchdowns including the game-winner in the fourth quarter as No. 21 Homer downed No. 17 Mexico 31-22 in the Section 3 semifinals.
With Homer down 22-15, Jacob Rivers returned an interception to the Mexico 6, setting up a Horner TD and go-ahead 2-point conversion run.
• Eric Bartnik threw for 200 yards and ran for 130 more as No. 2 Cheektowaga beat No. 18 Olean 56-35 in a Section 6 confrontation between unbeatens.
Bartnik finished 25-for-36 with three touchdown passes, and Stephan Parker caught 10 passes for 120 yards.
