North Tonawanda marches over North
NT scores 30 straight points, eliminates Spartans from playoffs
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville North's Joe Aquilino breaks away from North Tonawanda's Shannon Carr during first half homecoming action Saturday. North Tonawanda prevailed 36-24. Photo by Joe Eberle

North Tonawanda ran over Williamsville North last Saturday and in the process knocked the Spartans out of postseason contention.

The Lumberjacks (3-2, 3-3) rushed for 323 yards for a 36-24 comeback road victory, spoiling the Spartans' homecoming. NT clinched a playoff spot because Niagara-Wheatfield (4-2, 3-0) defeated Kenmore West, 28-21.

The big reason for the Lumberjacks' win came down to North's inability to tackle NT fullbacks. Sophomore Karl Booth dragged several would-be Spartan tacklers for a 10-yard first quarter TD. Travis Mawhir bulldozed through the middle of the North defense for an 18-yard tally in the fourth.

"It was all because of the blocking from the wide receivers, and the offensive line had good blocks," said Mawhir of his run. "I just ran where they had the holes."

"We didn't want to try and get on the perimeter with the speed they have at the linebacker level so we wanted to try and get the fullbacks going," said North Tonawanda coach Eric Jantzi.

"The fullbacks did a lot of damage and we didn't tackle," said North coach Mike Mammoliti. "How many times did we have them and then they broke for another 10, 12 and a couple longer yards? Unfortunately at the point of attack, we didn't do a very good job tackling them at all."

Ryan Hawkins led the NT rushers with 89 yards, including a 4-yard TD for the team's second score of the second quarter. NT quarterback Scott Gregson had a running and throwing touchdown. He finished with 83 yards rushing and was 7-of-10 passing for 87 yards.

Things looked great early for the Spartans. They scored on the first offensive play of the game, a 70-yard pass from Eric Dahlman (12-of-23, 189 yards) to a wide-open Joe Aquilino, and a 38-yard TD run from T.J. McDuffie on the team's fourth offensive play set up by a Jerome Fields pancake block. Aquilino caught five receptions for 132 yards unofficially. McDuffie rushed 14 times for 104 yards unofficially. But North's remaining first half drives resulted in 16 total yards.

Mammoliti cites an incomplete pass on his team's third offensive series that led to a turnover on downs as a turning point.

"(If we had scored) now it's a three score game and I think that changes the mentality a little bit," he said. "Unfortunately we didn't get it. But I thought we did a good job the whole game. The kids battled like warriors the whole time. I'm extremely proud of them."

Williamsville North added a 10-yard McDuffie run through the middle of the NT defense with 4:42 left in the third quarter followed by a Dahlman to Phil Constantino two-point conversion that cut the Lumberjack lead to 30-24. However after Williamsville North forced NT to punt, they fumbled the ball early in the fourth which resulted in Mawhir's TD.

Aquilino recovered an NT fumble with a little over two minutes to play but Dahlman threw an interception. North caused four turnovers (McDuffie and Rob Wilcox had fumble recoveries, Evan Bryant caught interception).

North Tonawanda hosts West Seneca West at 7 p.m. Friday in the Lumberjacks' homecoming. Williamsville North plays at 2 p.m. Saturday at Kenmore West.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com