Football
Dominating first quarter leads to Amherst road win
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Rob Gross has seen plenty of crazy football games throughout his tenure at Amherst Central but nothing like his team's 40-14 road win at Hamburg on Saturday.

In the first quarter, the Amherst offense only needed 17 snaps to rush for 221 yards, score three touchdowns and pass for another. Andre Hakeem (16 carries, 176 yards) had touchdowns runs of 86 and 14 yards and quarterback Cordell Freeman ran in a 19-yard touchdown to cap off a four-play, 66-yard drive, and threw a 10-yard strike to Matt Krajna. Freeman finished 6-of-9 for 55 yards. He also threw a two-point conversion to Casey Rich.

Meanwhile, the Amherst defense held Hamburg to minus-7 yards in the first quarter.

"It was the first time I've been involved with something like that at the beginning of the game," said Gross. "We had a game against Williamsville South three or four years when Mark Rubin by himself scored four touchdowns in a quarter. So I've seen some quarters when everything goes our way. What was unique about this one was it was in the first nine and a half minutes of the ball game. Everything we did on both sides of the ball worked perfectly in that first quarter."

Amherst finished with 295 first half yards to 16 for Hamburg. The Bulldogs did not get a first down until 1:30 left in the first half. Hamburg finished with 140 total yards, 51 coming on the ground.

Bertram Smith closed out the Tigers' scoring with a 35-yard interception return. He also scored a 6-yard run in the third quarter.

Troy Martin also had an interception for Amherst. The defense also recovered a fumble which led to Krajna's TD catch. Amherst is plus-12 in turnover ratio. Chris Brunetto and Casey Rich each made eight tackles.

"It was a great team win," said Gross. "The offense and defense did their jobs and special teams got us field position. The defense as a whole swarmed and gang tackled."

The win improved Amherst's playoff chances. The Tigers, ranked No. 10 among Western New York large schools, sit 4-2 overall but are third in Class A South at 2-2. They host No. 1 ranked Iroquois (6-0, 4-0) at 7 p.m. Friday. It is Amherst's homecoming.

"They're a very good team," said Gross. "They do a great job in all phases of the game. We've told our guys every week, 'we need to improve every week'. Every time we show up, it has to be our best game of the season. Our guys have responded the majority of the time and this week is no different. We need to step up and play our best game of the season on Friday night."

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com