Sweet Home offense spoils South's homecoming
Six first half touchdowns lead Panthers to big win
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Sweet Home's Ian Goree goes airborne past Williamsville South's Ralph Rosso (22) and Nick Brace (44). Goree threw three touchdown passes. The Sweet Home offense scored six first half TDs. Photos by Joe Eberle

The Sweet Home offense could do no wrong in the first half at Williamsville South last Friday.

Sweet Home scored six first half touchdowns, including three Ian Goree touchdown passes and two Marcus Johnson rushing scores as the Panthers easily dismantled South in the Billies' homecoming game, 49-20.

"I told the kids right before the game, I can tell you're focused and they were," said Sweet Home coach John Faller after the game. "We didn't make too many mistakes in the first half which was good to see. We're trying to improve every week just like every other team in the area and tonight we played exceptional."

Sweet Home scored on six of its seven first half possessions. The Panthers scored on the first drive of the game courtesy of a 24-yard pass from Goree to Nate Mc- Connell. The duo hooked up again 1:19 into the second quarter from 41 yards away. McConnell finished with three receptions for 71 yards.

Williamsville South's DaeShaune Clark breaks up a Sweet Home pass intended for Garrett Faulks during first half action on Friday. Also pictured is Logan Struebing (13). Sweet Home defeated South, 49-20, in the Billies' homecoming game. Clark finished with 205 total yards of offense.

Later in the second quarter, Goree fired a 37-yard TD to Eric Lawrence to put the Panthers ahead 35-0. Goree finished 10-of-14 for 167 yards. He also rushed for 51 yards. Johnson added second quarter scores of two and nine yards. He finished with 149 yards on 13 carries. Joel Tillman scored from two yards out.

The Sweet Home offense finished with 421 total yards of offense. South had 265 total yards.

"We tried to disguise a few defenses and put in a couple of different wrinkles but we didn't get off the football as well as we would have liked to defensively," said South coach Ryan Gallo.

South gave its fans something to cheer about when quarterback Christian Kranz (9-of-23, 140 yards, two interceptions) fired a 71-yard TD to DaeShaune Clark on the last play of the first half. The Billies added two second half scores, a 1-yard Kranz QB keeper with just over eight minutes into the third and a 12-yard pass from Clark to Adrian Wood with 5:25 remaining.

Lawrence caught an interception on the second play of the second half to set up his own 10-yard TD for Sweet Home five plays later. Johnson also intercepted a South pass.

Nick Brace forced the Billies only turnover, a fumble recovered by Clark. Brace led the South defense with 13 tackles, three for a loss, and another forced fumble. Michael Payne made 10 tackles, including one for a loss.

Clark finished with 205 total yards of offense (three receptions, 98 yards, TD, 11 carries for 95 yards, 1-of-2 passing 12 yards, TD). Wood had four receptions for 34 yards.

Sweet Home (3-1, 4-1) plays at 2 p.m. Saturday at Grand Island in a rematch of last year's Section VI Class A title game. Running back Allen Douglas, who hasn't played since Week Two because of a high right ankle sprain, is scheduled to return.

"We're not a complete team yet but we're getting there every

week," said Faller. "This one is going to help us down the line. The next three games are going to be tough ball games. Most teams aren't going to say die. They're going to come after us."

South (1-3, 1-4) travels to Albion for a 7:30 p.m. Friday start.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com