Kicking off: The Class AA pecking order has been established in Section 5 for the 2010 football season courtesy of one heck of a roller coaster ride in the form of
Rush-Henrietta's 32-26 victory over Webster Schroeder yesterday.
The Royal Comets coughed up all of a 25-10 lead in the fourth quarter than rallied to win on Ashton Broyld's 23-yard TD pass to junior Christian Harris with 16.9 seconds to play at Rush-Henrietta in their football opener.
A 76-yard gallop by Harris (who also picked off two passes) in the third quarter helped R-H take its lead, but Cody Henry of Schroeder pounced on a fumble in the end zone in the fourth quarter as the Warriors clawed back to within 25-17.
Andrew Nix ran 13 yards for another Schroeder score, but the conversion run to forge a tie failed. The Warriors thought they had pulled out a victory on Chris Ingrassia's 30-yard field goal, his second of the game, with :36.9 left on the clock.
An excessive celebration penalty on that play plus sophomore Bay Barley's kickoff return to the Schroeder 23 set up Broyld's winning strike down the middle to Harris on the next snap for his third TD pass of the afternoon.
Broyld, a third-team all-state quarterback last fall, finished 11-for-23 passing for 165 yards and an interception.
First down: Ithaca outgained Elmira Southside on the ground by a margin of 413 to minus-3 to overpower the Green Hornets 65-21.
Ithaca senior Riley Lasda ran 18 times for 241 yards and six TDs in the romp. The Penn State-bound lacrosse star scored on runs of 55 and 22 yards on his only two touched of the second half.
The only negatives for the Little Red were 13 penalties and two lost fumbles, but Reggie Feaster and Andrew Johnson returned interceptions for TDs.
Second down: Two-time defending New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class A champion Sweet Home opened by piling up 276 yards in a 34-7 win vs. Kenmore East.
Ralph Neasman rushed 20 times for 88 yards and a pair of short TDs. Mikal Coleman also scored twice -- one coming on a 12-yard punt return -- and blocked a punt for the Panthers to extend their winning streak to 27 games on a windy day.
"It was a tough day for both offenses to do a lot in the air. We had to rely on the running game," Sweet Home coach John Faller told The Buffalo News. "We have an inexperienced offensive line, and they did pretty good for the first day."
Third down: Teams were working extra hard for their victories in Section 9 yesterday.
Brandon Smith's third TD, a 12-yard run up the middle in overtime, lifted Livingston Manor/Roscoe past Harpursville 44-38.
Harpursville, which got 117 yards and three TDs by Tyler Boudreau, fumbled on the 10-yard-line on the first possession of overtime. A Boudreau 6-yard run with 1:05 to play had tied the score at 38.
Adam Hendrix scored twice in the third quarter for the winners, on a 38-yard run and a 40-yard pass from Mike Mills.
Meanwhile, Eldred ushered in the Mike Paradisis in dramatic fashion by edging Deposit/Hancock 20-18 in overtime.
With the score tied at 12, Matt Balcom caught a 10-yard pass from Adam Schoch (8-for-13, 185 yards) on