Leading off today: Oh, my. Where to start?
Well, let's begin with the score: Dundee 76, Batavia Notre Dame 13.
That was the final score in the Section 5 Class D football final last night at Rochester Rhinos Stadium, which used to be Marina Auto Stadium after it was PAETEC Park ...
The result advanced the Scotsmen into an overall sectional final against Avon, the Class DD champ, for the right to represent Section 5 in the state quarterfinals in two weeks.
And it left a stench, as some 63-point blowouts tend to do.
But before I get too far into this, let me note a couple of significant facts. First of all, no single Dundee player rolled up obscene stats, so it wasn't a matter of chasing individual records at the expense of sportsmanship. Steve Webb rushed 12 times for 166 yards and three TDs, and he scored another TD on a punt return in the second quarter. That qualifies as no harm, no foul. It was acually just a very average day for Webb, who has 1,768 yards and 30 TDs for the season.
Secondly, Dundee only outgained Notre Dame by 376 yards to 228 on offense. Amazingly, the Scots did it on just 32 snaps, compared to 53 for the Fighting Irish. Think about that. They gained 376 yards in just 32 plays. The nine scoring drives consisted of 2, 1, 5, 2, 2, 2, 7, 2 and 3 plays.
Losing two fumbles and being intercepted four times put the Notre Dame defense in a bad spot, but at some point the Fighting Irish defense needed to step up and actually stop Dundee. Face it guys, a girl (junior kicker Katie Zebrowski, who went 10-for-11 on extra points) nearly outscored you.
"From my stand point, I've always thought, you know, they were trying to get some sectional records and things of that nature," ND coach Rick Mancuso told The Batavian. "That doesn't bother me. I mean, God bless them, whatever they wanted to do is fine. It doesn't matter to me.
"Hey, if you want to stop somebody, you've got to stop them on the field. That's the way I look at it, and we didn't do that."
He's right. Having said that, however, it needs to be noted that the score at the start of the fourth quarter was 56-7, with many Dundee starters still in the game. That's bad for a team with a 35-player roster, but what's worse is that starting QB Tom Pratt threw a touchdown pass with 7:58 to play. Granted, it was just a 9-yarder rather than airing it out from midfield -- and it came at the end of Dundee's only sustained scoring drive of the night (seven plays, 58 yards) -- but throwing when you're leading by 56-13 is a terrible idea, regardless of whether ND still had its starters in the game.
Dundee opened its season with a pair of wins by scores of 71-0 and 70-8 against bad football teams, and there
