Wild finish

With the pouring rain not letting up from kickoff until long after the parking lots emptied, the Hillbillies could have packed it in and said it just was not their night.

Or, instead, the ‘Billies could fight to make up for the hole they dug themselves in.

Fredonia chose the latter.

The Hillbillies scored four rushing touchdowns to claw their way back on top, and held on in the final two minutes of a rain-soaked season opener to defeat the Silver Creek/Forestville 26-18 in a Class C South football game at Silver Creek High School on Friday night.

OBSERVER Photo by Ashleigh Brown
Silver Creek/Forestville’s Cam Ingram avoids Fredonia defender Kevin Brown in Friday’s Class C South game.

Fredonia (1-0) gave the nod to Donovan Dowdy as the starting quarterback, but the night was dominated by the running game. The Hillbillies relied on senior Luca Gullo, one of the four team captains, to carry the load in the backfield. Gullo certainly did that, as he dominated the share of touches on the Fredonia offense. He had plenty of room to run behind a veteran offensive line, including Colin Crowell, Ian Storey and Bryce Bacher.

“I think it took a lot of senior leadership at that point in time,” Hillbillies head coach Greg Sherlock said of his team’s response to an early two-score deficit. “… You get comfortable with your seniors that have been around for a while, and we were comfortable with Luca.”

Silver Creek/Forestville (0-1) also had major contributions from its captains, Cam Ingram and Gavin DeLong. Black Knights head coach Sean Helmer called Ingram and DeLong the team’s biggest leaders just days into organized practices, and they each made major plays to keep the team in the game.

Fredonia’s first trip to the red zone was a fumble inside the Silver Creek/Forestville 10-yard line. Shortly after, Ingram burst through the line and broke multiple tackles on his way to a 65-yard touchdown run to put the Black Knights ahead 6-0, less than five minutes into the season.

The Hillbillies responded by quickly getting into the red zone again, led by a 30-yard run by Gullo, only stopped by a horse collar tackle that set Fredonia up inside the 10-yard line again.

But just like the first time, Fredonia again fumbled in the red zone, and this time, it was DeLong who was ready to make a big play. The Black Knights linebacker, who also began the game as the starting quarterback, scooped up the ball and took off upfield. He outran the Fredonia offense chasing him from behind to cap off the house call for a 90-yard touchdown and a 12-0 Black Knights lead.

From there, Fredonia buckled down.

In the opening minute of the second quarter, facing a fourth down just outside of the 3-yard line, Dowdy kept it himself for a 3-yard touchdown run. It was the first of three touchdowns he scored on the night, all within five yards of the goal line.

On the next drive, the Black Knights were forced to punt after just three plays, but in a mix of poor weather and lack of execution, the snap for the punt skipped across the grass and the Hillbillies pounced on the punter. The turnover on downs gave Fredonia the ball inside the 10-yard line for the fourth time, not even a third of the way through the second quarter.

Less than three minutes after his first touchdown run, Dowdy evened the score with his second rushing touchdown.

“(Dowdy) has a lot of confidence in himself, and that’s what we want him to have,” Sherlock said.

Just over four minutes later, Fredonia took the lead on its longest scoring play of the night, a 24-yard touchdown run by Gullo. Fredonia led 18-12 with 4:25 left in the first half.

The ‘Billies extended the lead to 26-12 with 3:32 left in the third quarter on a 4-yard rushing touchdown by Dowdy, his third of the game. Dowdy then connected with Gullo on a pass down the sideline for a two-point conversion.

Then, it was the Black Knights’ turn to try to claw back from a two-touchdown deficit, and they almost did it.

William Duliba, who entered in the second quarter as the quarterback of the Black Knights, found Ingram streaking down the Silver Creek/Forestville sideline. Ingram darted down the sideline and found the end zone for a 51-yard score, the third touchdown of the game for the Black Knights of more than 50 yards. After a failed two-point conversion, the Fredonia lead remained at eight points, with the Black Knights hoping for one more chance with the ball to potentially tie the score.

Fredonia had a chance to ice the game by converting on a 4th-and-2 at the Silver Creek/Forestville 31-yard line with just over two minutes left on the clock, but after a fumbled snap, the Black Knights got the stop they needed and took possession with a chance to even the score.

After the first three plays of the ensuing drive only resulted in two yards, a fourth down heave into double coverage was batted up into the air near midfield, but as the ball hit the rain soaked grass, the Hillbillies sealed a season-opening victory. Fredonia ran out the clock with kneel downs to finish off the win.

“I thought our defense, for being the first game and being so young this year … overall, they got a lot more aggressive,” Sherlock said. “… I thought they played pretty well.”

Dowdy earned the win as the starting quarterback in the season opener, rather than Brady Helmer, the senior playing against his father, Sean Helmer. Instead, Brady Helmer saw snaps at wide receiver throughout the night, although neither team relied on much of a passing game in the poor conditions.

“It’s a hard week,” Sean Helmer said of the lead-up to the game against his son for one final time. “… On that side, I’m glad it’s over.”

The Black Knights were doomed by multiple bad snaps on punts, several false-start penalties, and also jumped offsides multiple times. While at times the Black Knights looked almost as sloppy as the surrounding conditions, Sean Helmer’s team played hard until the bitter end.

“If you take care of those things, you have a chance to win this game,” Helmer said of his team’s mistakes. “Credit to the kids, they fought. They fought really hard and they didn’t quit. They put themselves in a spot to have a chance. We just didn’t get it.”

Up next, the Hillbillies travel to Chautauqua Lake in Week 2 for another Class C South contest with Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton next Friday. The Black Knights will hit the road to take on Falconer/Cassadaga Valley/Maple Grove next Friday.

“We’ve got guys that can play. We’re way better than we were last year,” Helmer said. “… I’m excited. To me, that was like coaching football, and it has not been that way in a couple years.”