By JOHN ANDERSON, photos by ELLA GREEN
Finally. Hornell and Wellsville football had a chance to play again in a game of football with post-season implications and even teams on paper.
While the rivalry was deadlocked into the early 80’s, Hornell’s dominance took over in the late 80’s and early 90’s before league schedules ended the game. Wellsville’s move to 8-man football made it look like one of the best rivalries in the state was over.
For the second time in 30 years, Wellsville downed Hornell, 29-12 before a massive crowd at the Lions Den in Wellsville on Friday night. The last Wellsville win over Hornell was Oct. 17, 2014, a 33-0 home victory.
Wellsville improved to 2-0 on the season thanks to a great running game with four different players that opened up a passing game which saw five different players catch passes.
Hornell had six points wiped off the board early because of a penalty when senior Nolan Morey scored on a touchdown pass. The Lions held on downs and stopped the Red Raiders two other drives in the first half inside the 30.
With the momentum, quarterback Brennen Geffers found Trent Green for a 61-yard touchdown pass. Green snared the ball at the 40 and out-sprinted the defense to the endzone and a 6-0 lead.
The Red Raiders drove again and were threatening on the Wellsville 19-year-line when Wellsville senior Riley Rogers had a rare sack, forced fumble and fumble recovery.
Story continues after a video recap of the game action with interviews:
However, when the Lions drive stalled, Hornell 5-foot-11 sophomore Keegan Mack blasted through the line on a fourth down, blocked a punt, ran to the end zone and recovered the ball for a touchdown and a 6-6 tie.
The Lions scored twice then in the third quarter, Hornell senior quarterback Brody Flaitz connected on a 40-yard touchdown to junior Dylan Czarnecki. But it would be the last points of the game for the Red Raiders. Senior Connor Smith also had two good catches for Hornell.
Wellsville coach Tim Keenan was impressed with the crowd. Cars packed all area parking lots, the front of the school and up and down school street. Even the old Kerton Greenhouse parking area was full.
“At halftime I got a chance to look and see the crowd, it was great — the drum line was awesome, this was the biggest crowd I’ve seen since I got here,” Keenan said. “It seems like the whole town is behind us, there was great energy and I hope we earned some more time with the fans to come out and see us again this season.”
Keenan was comfortable with the offensive game-plan coming into the game and said Hornell’s coaches made some good adjustments to shut the Lions down.
“Hornell made some good halftime adjustments, they stymied us early in the third quarter, but our defensive coordinator had a good game plan,” Keenan said. “He knew we had to switch things up from last week and we had the right kids in the right spots.”
It was a team effort again on defense for Wellsville. This week, new names entered the leaderboard.
Jack Cicirello had a monster game for the Lions with nine tackles (three solo) and a sack.
Matt Ritter had a team-high six solo tackles and a sack.
Xander Outman had two rushing touchdowns for the Lions and ran for 45 yards while Matt Ritter ran for 28 yards. Outman also led the Lions as he was in on 10 tacles, five solo and a sack.
Bryan Kear, Lenix Witter, Wyatt Green, Cole Densmore (forced fumble), and Tyler Rahr all had two tackles while Gabriel Black and Geffers had tackles Densmore, Ritter, Black and Outman also had sacks. Trent Green was in on four tackles.
In the air, Brennen Geffers was 13-of-23 for 215 yards and two touchdowns. Geffers has accounted for seven touchdowns in just two games.
On the receiving end, David Clark hauled in two long passes for 54 yards and a touchdown. He added a two-point conversion catch.
Trenton Green had another monster game with five catches for 114 yards and a touchdown. He also kicked an extra point.
Jack Davis hauled in four catches for 30 yards with a two-point conversion catch. Davis also had four tackles. Jack Cicirello and Ritter each had a catch for 15 yards.
“The offensive and defensive line was outstanding tonight and the first guy who jumps out to me is (junior) Bryan Kear, he came out at defensive end and had some great stops for us,” Keenan said. “Cole Densmore had a great game even though he wasn’t feeling good. And then across the board, the usual suspects, Brennen Geffers, Jack Davis, Trenton Green, Matt Ritter had great games for us. We were able to pound the rock and Xander Outman had a great game running the ball and the o-line had a great game.”
Wellsville sophomore center Jaden Brown is one of the Genesee Valley students afforded the opportunity to play football along with a player from Belfast. Hornell has players from Arkport-Canaseraga, and this season, Cuba-Rushford, Portville and Bolivar-Richburg had to merge teams to have one 11-man team.
Brown has new friends and found himself in the middle of a rivalry that goes back over 100 years.
“I didn’t think I would be part of this rivalry, this was a big deal,” Brown said. “All game long I heard the crowd. They were super-loud, it was great. This game was amazing, being rivals with Hornell, losing all those years, this was special.”
Brown said the difference this season is, “We’ve practiced hard and had a lot of off-season workouts. We have more players and the roster and more skills.”
As for being part of the team, Brown said The Genesee Valley/Belfast players feel a part of the orange and black just like they went to the school.
“It’s just like we are from Wellsville, we are part of the team and we are included, people know is, the only difference is the drive! Brown said. “It’s so much fun. Our schools don’t have football, so having the chance to come here and play football is amazing.”
See Ella Green’s slideshow photo gallery:
