Weedsport only threw the ball two times on Saturday. They didn’t need to throw any more than that, either.

The Warriors (8-0) tallied all 352 of their yards via the run en route to a 30-18 win over the Altmar-Parish-Williamstown Rebels (5-3) in the Section III 8-man final in the Carrier Dome.

Five different players carried more than five times for Weedsport. Senior Max Horsford led the charge with 20 carries for 110 yards and two touchdowns, earning him MVP honors.

“It (the rushing attack) is really intense,” Horsford said, “We just keep going and we never stop.”

Horsford was bottled up for most of the first quarter, as neither side could generate much offense. He did run a touchdown in from 1-yard out with 4:25 left in the quarter but had only tallied 16 yards on 7 carries up until that point.

Then, just 54 seconds into the second, Horsford found some daylight on the right sideline and cut it up for a 63-yard score. That put the Warriors up, 16-0.

“I just saw them really string out wide, I saw the cut back was open, and I just took it,” Horsford said.

The Rebels’ comeback effort was countered by the Warriors’ defense almost immediately. On the ensuing drive, A-P-W quarterback Jon Comstock was intercepted by Aidan Mabbett in Weedsport territory.

Later in the quarter, Connor Mabbett put the Warriors up 22-0 with 2:55 left in the second. Connor finished with 55 yards and one score.

A-P-W finally got on the board with three seconds left in the first half on a sneak by Comstock, following a big 50-yard hookup with receiver Charles Stanard.

In the second half, Weedsport once again dominated possession but had nothing to show for it. A-P-W’s offense took advantage, with Comstock finding the end zone on back to back deep balls in the fourth quarter. The Rebels failed to convert either point after, leaving the score at 22-18.

Horsford wasn’t worried though, telling his teammates they just had to keep possession, keep holding their blocks and make the clock run.

The Warriors did just that. Aidan Mabbett punched it in with 8:52 left, and his triplet brother Connor ran in the conversion to make it 30-18. Aidan totaled 124 yards on 10 carries.

After the score, Weedsport head coach Jon Sgarlata brought the whole team into a huddle, knowing a stop on defensive was critical.

“I felt like we started to relax a bit because we got that score that had eluded us, having had a couple drives previously where we’d gotten close,” Sgarlata said. “I just told them ‘no bends, just keep playing and we were gonna need another stop’ because we hadn’t stopped them.”

The stop came courtesy of none other than Horsford, who intercepted Comstock with 6:58 left to play. Sgarlata let his five different running backs finish the job.

“If we’re going to run the ball 50 to 60 times, we need four to five guys who can do that,” Sgarlata said. “Obviously the backups aren’t as good as the ones, but we just need four to five yards, and we were able to get that today.”

Published on November 3, 2018 at 1:15 pm

Contact Tim: tnolan@syr.edu