By JOHN ANDERSON, photos by ELLA GREEN
Senior night can be tricky in sports. Players can get too emotional and other times they do not realize the magnitude. For Wellsville seniors Derek Coleman and Brennen Geffers, senior night had two different meanings.
Both meanings came together in all three phases of the game as the Wellsville Lions improved to 3-1 with an impressive 40-13 win over Livonia Friday night. With the win, Wellsville/GVB football remains tied with Letchworth/Warsaw and LeRoy/Cal-Mum in Class C with 3-1 records while Alexander/Pembroke is in the top spot with a 3-0 record.
Coleman, who has not played this season from a leg injury, could only sit and watch a week ago when the Lions lost to Letchworh/Warsaw. He wanted to make a difference on his Senior Night. In practice this week, he threw a whistle around his neck and worked with head coach Tim Keenan on the defense. “There was a lot more preparation, a lot more work on the d-line,” Coleman said. “I think me and Coach Keenan had the d-line and we forced them to use their hands more and I think it paid off. The linebackers came to play tonight, the safeties came to play, everybody was a dog!”
For senior quarterback Brennen Geffers, it was emotional as he has watched seniors he played with for three years graduate, and he said he looked up and learned from all of them as the football program has dusted itself off, won at the 8-man level and is now winning at regular 11-man football.
“It’s amazing … being a four-year starter on varsity and experiencing every other grade coming up and their senior night … I want to be there, I want to be THEM. And it’s here. Emotions were high, we knew what we were playing for,” Geffers said.
Geffers put together another incredible game with over 300 all-purpose yards and has to be in the running for Section V offensive MVP at the end of the year. Geffers, who wears No. 17 like Josh Allen, did it in the air and with his legs.
In the air, Geffers was 14-of-25 for 268 yards and four touchdowns. On the ground he ran 4 times for 36 yards, a 9.0 average per carry.
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On the receiving end, senior David Clark had six catches for 108 yards and a touchdown while senior Jack Davis had five catches for 96 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Trent Green averaged 28 yards a catch as he scored a touchdown and hauled in two passes for 56 yards. Senior Cane Treusdell had one catch for eight yards.
On the ground, bruising fullback Xander Outman had eight carries for 62 yards and a touchdown while Matt Ritter ran for 32 yards on six carries, Tyler Rahr had a 20-yard gain and Jack Cicirello had five yards.
Cicirello, also a senior, had his strongest game on defense with a team-high five solo tackles, nine total stops and a big interception that prevented Livonia from tying the game early.
Davis had two solo tackles, nine total and one tackle for a loss. Xander Outman had a team-high 11 total tackles while Cole Densmore and Riley Rogers each had a sack and four tackles. Damon David had nine stops, Matt Ritter seven and Tyler Rahr seven.
Also in on the defensive stops were Uriah Tocher (three), Trenton Green (six), David Lamberson, Treusdell, Owen Teague (four), Colin Stork (three), Wyatt Green two, one for a loss), Bruan Kear had four tackles, one for a loss, Pierre Lussier had two and Gabe Quackenbush, Ryan Sturm and Spencer Rambarab-Kays were in one one.
“The kids came out and executed. After a loss last week we had to get their emotions back in the right spot. That’s all it was,” Kennan said. “Mentally, we came prepared to play this week and it showed on the field.”
Kennan said it was a perfect Senior Night.
“This is the beauty of doing Senior Night halfway through the season instead of the last game, we weren’t overwhelmed with emotions, but it was a nice night,” Kennan said. “We had great weather and stayed light until later. The kids bought into that and it was business as usual. And business as usual is a good outcome.”
Wellsville also recovered from a loss on the road.
“Our defensive coach (John) Valentine had a great defensive scheme this week, he really did a great job adjusting based on what we saw last week with a run-heavy style,” Kennan said. “We were able to get the ball back a bunch of times from their offense and then we were able to capitalize.
Livonia’s Jacob Benitez had a game-high 196 yards rushing and two touchdowns while Seth Eadie ran for 62 yards. Andy Crilly was in on 10 tackles while Eadie had five tackles and a sack.
Wellsville is at Bath on Friday night. Bath is coming off a loss to Alexander/Pembroke.
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