Kenmore East stuns Williamsville East for first win
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville East's Zach Miller did not have much running room against Kenmore East's defense on Saturday. Kenmore East defeated Williamsville East, 34-15. Also in on the play is the Bulldogs' Bryan Cairnduff (12). Miller did score a 1-yard touchdown. Photo by John Rusac

Williamsville East coach Henry Fumerelle described his team's homecoming football game with Kenmore East last Saturday as bad dream. Kenmore East provided plenty of nightmares for the Flames, beating the No. 6 Western New York ranked large school, 34-15, before a standing room only crowd. The loss dropped Williamsville East to 3-1 in Class A North, 3-2 overall and gave Kenmore East's its first win of the season (1-4, 1-4).

"We just did not play well," said Fumerelle. "We did not get enough pressure on their quarterback or cover real well. They threw for too many yards."

Kenmore East quarterback John Anthony Wiltberger was 13-of-22 for 211 yards and four touchdowns.

Things went bad for Williamsville East on their first drive of the game as a 55-yard touchdown from Mike Langfelder was called back because of a holding penalty. East was forced to punt and Kenmore East responded with its first score, a 13-yard pass from Wiltberger to Nick Muscarella. Muscarella would finish with five catches for 110 yards and three touchdowns.

Justin Wisnouskas has his game face on during Williamsville East's homecoming game against Kenmore East on Saturday. Wisnouskas was named honorary team captain prior to the game. Photo by John Rusac

East tied the game on their next drive when running back Zach Miller scored from 1-yard out and quarterback Joe Schriever ran in the two-point conversion. Miller's run was set up by a 55-yard pass from Schriever to Rick Silvestri on a fourth-and-1.

However, Kenmore East used a ball-control offense to lead 22-8 at halftime and chewed up half of the third quarter for another score.

"I think that they just chewed up a lot of clock and kept the ball away from our offense," said Fumerelle.

East responded quickly with a 40-yard TD pass from Schriever to Silvestri but the Bulldogs' Adam Owczarak recovered an ensuing East onside kick. Owczarak also caught a 14-yard TD pass.

"I knew we could score on them but we had a very difficult time stopping them," said Fumerelle. "They converted five or six third-and-10 plus plays. It was disappointing and kept our offense on the field."

"It was a culmination of a real bad football game (for us)," Fumerelle continued. "We had probably seven or eight penalties while they virtually had none. We had three turnovers and we might have had one."

Fumerelle did not want to take anything away from Kenmore East but he did have some key players out with injuries. Included

in the mix were running back/linebacker Adam Kausch, who played sparingly, Zach Marzo, a defensive back and wide receiver, Dan Norris, a 6-foot-3, 273-pound lineman, and special team players Dan Rizzo and Dominic Missana.

"Without them, it limited what we could do," said Fumerelle.

The only good that came from the loss is that East controls its own destiny for making the playoffs. If East wins its next three games, they are division champions. If they lose two out of three,

they should still make the playoffs. East's playoff push starts at 2 p.m. Saturday when they host Starpoint, a team who beat the Flames twice last season, including a 20-6 loss in the Class A consolation bowl finals.

"I told the guys after the game, even with this loss, we still control everything ourselves," said Fumerelle. "It's now up to us. If we want to do it, we've got to win. It's a very tall order because these are quality programs."

The last time East made the playoffs was 2000.

Prior to the game, Justin Wisnouskas was given a game ball by East captains Miller, Schriever and Mike Rath. East Athletics Director Dawn Bak and East principal Neal Miller were also on hand. Wisnouskas was named a honorary game captain.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com