By HUNTER O. LYLE
HINSDALE, NY – As just a sophomore, Ty Margeson has already collected an impressive resume.
Taking over under center ever since his first time walking onto a high school field, his presence has been forged both in the huddle, where he helps command the rapidly progressing Allegany-Limestone/Hinsdale football team, and in the stat sheet, where he ranks third amongst all his quarterback colleagues in Section VI.
Playing in front of his home crowd for the final time this season, he again made that presence known, hoisting the Gators above Salamanca as he delivered a 28-22 win in overtime.
“(Margeson) is in my hip pocket at practice. We scheme together, we watch film together, we spend a lot of time together and I couldn’t be more proud of him,” said Allegany-Limestone/Hinsdale head coach Marcus Grove. “As a sophomore, stepping up and making the big plays, continuously finding a way to do it week in and week out, I just can’t wait to see what he does for us this year and in the next too. I think it’s going to be pretty special.
In the early action, however, it was Salamanca who set the table. While both teams looked to establish their run games early, the Warriors were the ones to find success. Relying on their overwhelming size in the trenches to open their wild-cat offense, Salamanca put the spotlight on their star, Connor Seeley.
Getting the ball ten times in their opening eight-minute drive, Seeley continuously chunked out yardage as he marched the Warriors down to the goal line, where, with just 14 seconds taken off the second quarter, Jayden Romero punched in the first score of the night with a quarterback dive up the middle. QB2 Brandon Bartoszek then collected the two-point conversion with a pass into the endzone.
After another stalled drive, the Gators were kept off the field for another long, time-consuming Salamanca drive. While it came up short of a second score, the Warriors left A-L with just 36.9 seconds for a retaliation.
However, put the ball in Margeson’s hands and good things happen.
Taking over on their own 17, Margeson broke out for an 83-yard, first-snap touchdown pass to Nolan Zink before knotting the game with a two-point conversion carried in on his own two legs. Although their sideline elation was immediately dashed, seeing Salamanca return the favor with a 62-yard score one snap later, Margeson and Co. would not be denied.
Taking over with just 19.1 seconds remaining in the first half, an initial hook-and-ladder play from Margeson to Greg Peck to Zink put the Gators 54 yards away from the endzone. Getting off one final snap, Margeson sent up a high-arching bomb, rifling a pass over 35 yards through the air to find Ryan Callen in front of the endzone. Coming down with the catch, Callen streaked by two defenders, crossing the plane with zeros on the clock.
“We have an explosive offense when we do the little things right. When we do the little things right, we have playmakers all over the field that can make a difference for us in any instance,” said Grove, whose team entered halftime down 16-14 after failing to convert on the 2-point play. “You see that with how fast we can move down the field in a short amount of time.”
But while A-L’s offense was finding answers, their defense was yet to fully form. Out of the halftime gates, Salamanca again cracked the seal, marching down the field for a five-snap scoring drive that put them up 22-14. Snubbing the Gators into a punt, the Warriors once again began slowing their roll, with their best defense being a slow, productive offense.
But as they entered the fourth seeing Salamanca setting up on their 34-yard line, the Gators defense pulled the rug with an interception from Callen. Four plays later, A-L retied the game with a three-yard carry from Zink and a two-point conversion from Margeson.
Knotted at 22, the next four combined drives all came up empty, forcing a do-or-die overtime. The Gators would receive first.
Lining up 20 yards out, A-L’s first two plays – carries from Sawyer Prince and Zink – yielded just five yards. The third was stopped at the line of scrimmage. In a stroke of luck, the fourth ended with a flag. Pass interference. Gators ball, first and goal from the seven. After carrying the ball up to the three-yard line, Margeson once again came up clutch, finding Callen in the endzone for the go-ahead six points.
Now the pressure rested on the Warriors. With A-L’s sidelines erupting, Salamanca’s first snap came up empty. The second ended four-yards behind with a tackle-for-loss from Isaiah Fisher. On third-and-14, they garnered just one yard.
In a final desperate act to salvage the night, Salamanca went to the air. Facing a bursting pocket, Romero targeted a receiver beyond the chains. On target but not in hands, a missed catch sealed the night. The Gators had prevailed.
“(The execution) was something we preached since last week. (Against Randolph) we were a little careless with the football so this week we talked about protecting the rock, keeping it in our favor and I think you saw tonight that we did a pretty good job of that,” said Grove. “Doing those little things when we needed to, it was great. We preached focus and intensity and physicality and I think we stood up to the test.”
Margeson ended with three touchdowns on a 222 passing yard night, finding Callen for 62 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Zink ended with 82 yards through the air and 34 on the ground, punching in one score while Fisher led the defense with nine solo tackles.
For Salamanca, Seeley recorded 187 rushing yards and one score, followed Ethan Baxter with 44 rushing yards and another.
“Salamanca has a storied history. Just a couple years ago they were competing for a state championship. They have a great staff, it’s a great program over there,” said Grove, “so for our guys to come back and not only be competitive in our second year back to 11-man football, but to find our way to hanging with some of the top tier teams, it means everything right now.”
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