By SPENCER BATES
CUBA — The newly combined forces of the Portville/Cuba-Rushford/Bolivar-Richburg football team got a taste of how potent the strength of its C South league will be this season after suffering a 42-0 loss to Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton.
Starting out their season with a 49-8 win over Allegany-Limestone/Hinsdale last week, the Panthers flexed their muscles. But come Week Two, they felt what it was like to be on the opposite side of a loss of that magnitude.
“We’ve been saying all week, it was a great first-week win, but it’s not going to be the same (all season),” Portville coach Josh Brooks said. “(Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton) is a good football team that’s well coached. We needed to be the more physical team and we clearly were not, on either side of the ball, and that showed. They shut down our run game right away. And, defensively, we couldn’t stop the run. They made some big plays in the pass game early, and once we got behind, it’s a tough team to come back on. Super disappointed with our effort, but it’s one game. I think our guys aren’t happy. I think they know we’re better than what we showed tonight, but we got to get back to work.”
Granted, it took the Eagles some time to find a foothold in the game as both sides spent their first few possessions turning the ball over. It wasn’t until Chautauqua Lake quarterback Brayden Gibbs connected on a deep touchdown pass to Asher Olson that the game broke open. Another Gibbs heave downfield, this time to Carson Fairbank, put the visitors up 14-0 on their next possession.
A 60-yard passing play from quarterback Aidan DeFazio to Jake Ziegler put the Panthers in the red zone, giving them their best scoring opportunity of the game thus far. Unfortunately for them, they were unable to convert, and to make matters worse, the Eagles took over and marched down the field for their third and final score of the first half.
As Brooks noted, the physical battle was the key to the game, and Chautauqua Lake staked its claim over the line of scrimmage all night. DeFazio, who finished 6-for-18 with 88 yards and three interceptions, did not have much time in the pocket, throwing a number of passes on the run, simply because he needed to. The run was also difficult to establish, only amassing 26 yards all game.
“We have guys with experience (on the line), we just need to do a better job,” Brooks said. “But it’s certainly not just them. We’re doing a poor job blocking on the perimeter. We’re doing a poor job hitting holes across the board. We certainly got out-performed, but we’ll get to the film and we’re going to do our job as coaches and get these kids better.”
Portville/Cuba-Rushford/Bolivar-Richburg’s Aidan DeFazio (7) rolls out, looking for a pass against Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton. DeFazio threw for 88 yards against the Eagles. (Spencer Bates)
The scoring continued in the third quarter for the Eagles as Gibbs got in on the action with a one-yard punch-in on the goal line. In the fourth, Fairbanks doubled up his tally on the night with a 25-yard touchdown reception and capping off the game was a 30-yard pick-6 by Aiden Woodis.
“Our league’s, no joke,” Brooks said. “We got to go to Southwestern on a short week next week. That’s no easy task. We started off slow last year, and we got it going. We certainly haven’t found our identity yet, so that’s something we need to do, and we’re going to work every single day to try to find it.”
Portville/Cuba-Rushford/Bolivar-Richburg will look to get back into the win column on Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. when it travels to face another newly merged program in Southwestern/Frewsburg.
AT CUBA
Portville/C-R/B-R: 0 0 0 0 — 0
Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton: 14 7 7 14 — 42
First Quarter:
CL/W/B — Olson 50 pass from Gibbs; extra point good, 7-0
CL/W/B — Fairbanks 55 pass from Gibbs; extra point good, 14-0
Second Quarter:
CL/W/B — Hewes 3 pass from Gibbs; extra point good, 21-0
Third Quarter:
CL/W/B — Gibbs 1 run; extra point good, 28-0
Fourth Quarter:
CL/W/B — Fairbanks 25 pass from Gibbs; extra point good, 35-0
CL/W/B — Woods 30 interception; extra point good, 42-0
——
Team Statistics:
Portville/C-R/B-R:
First Downs: 6
Rushes-Yards: 28-26
Passing Yards: 88
Comp-Att.-Int.: 6-18-3
Total Offense: 114
Fumbles-Lost: 3-1
Penalties-Yards: 5-48
Punts-Avg.: 5-41.8
Total Plays: 46
——
CL/W/B:
First Downs: 11
Rushes-Yards: 24-108
Passing Yards: 256
Comp-Att.-Int.: 15-22-0
Total Offense: 364
Fumbles-Lost: 2-1
Penalties-Yards: 10-85
Punts-Avg.: 3-40.0
Total Plays: 46
