Weedsport Offense Shows More, Still Comes Up Short

The Weedsport Varsity Football team took on Sandy Creek on Friday night. A tough fought game came up short for the Warriors, after they lost 35-14. A different appearance from last week, after a tough 58-0 loss against Onondaga, the offense showed a strong burst of energy in the first quarter.

“We played with a little more heart and pride and intensity,” said head coach, Greg Michaels. “We didn’t have that last week.”

Between the running of Tom Reitz and Riley Spingler, as well as the passing from Reilly Bowden, the Warriors were able to score first, and also score another touchdown in the first quarter. They put up 14 points in the second quarter, but nothing past that. Both touchdowns were from Reitz.

“They started keying on me, obviously,” said Reitz. “I mean, a couple other guys were trying to run the ball…when you have a one-man running back, they’re going to shut you down…”

A major thorn in the side of the Weedsport defense was Joe Benedict, the star player of Sandy Creek. While the defense was able to stop other running backs, Benedict seemed to run through the defensive line – no matter what happened.

“Well, our first half was a lot better than our second half,” said Alec Barner. “First half, we shut them down for the most part. They had three scores, but they were hard fought drives.”

With random burst of energy, and different highlights for the team, including a fumble recovery in the second quarter, one would think momentum would change. But, that was not the case.

“We were moving the ball; I think we punted once the whole game…” said Michaels. “Our momentum is fine.” Michaels said they needed to just take advantage of their opportunities.

With Sandy Creek taking possession in the first half, Weedsport had a different playstyle. While the Comets scored with 7:05 left in the third quarter, to make the score 28-14, the offense decided to try something new: the wildcat.

“It’s one of our better sets,” said Michaels. “It’s what we gain a lot of yards on.”

While the wildcat playstyle did help Reitz, who finished with 170 yards rushing, something was still missing. Bowden was able to pick it up a little bit with his passing, going 9-for-19 throughout the game.

“Yeah pretty much, [Bowden] takes most of the snaps anyway,” said Michaels on Bowden now being the main quarterback. “He’s moving into the position well.”

Weedsport (0-4) takes on well-known rival Port Byron (4-0), and Weedsport looks to have a lot of changes both on offense and defense throughout the next week.

“[Port Byron] has a really good [running] back,” said Barner on the defensive side of things. “But they don’t have much else, and we’ll hopefully contain him and it’ll be an easy game for us.”

On the offensive side, Reitz commented: “I think our run game is pretty strong…I think we can use the pass game a little more.”

“Port Byron will be undefeated, and we’re defeated, we’re 0-4, and they’re 4-0, and usually it’s the other way around,” said Michaels. “We just have to see how much pride we have, and how much we want to win.”