Turnovers plague Billies in Albion loss
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Turnovers have been Williamsville South's worst enemy all season and it came to bite the Billies again Friday at Albion.

South (1-5, 1-5) turned the football over four times, the last three which led to Albion touchdowns in a 42-20 loss.

"They really didn't disguise anything or show anything that we weren't prepared for," said South coach Ryan Gallo. "We just ultimately didn't tackle with any consistency or sustain any offensive drives at various times. We continue to self-destruct via turnovers on a week to week basis. We're not a good enough football team to overcome those situations at this point."

South trailed 14-0 six minutes into the game thanks to their own miscues. Gallo said a South fullback backpedaled into the punter as he was kicking and the ball sailed only 15 yards, giving Albion the ball at the Billie 41. The Purple Eagles' Brandon Brewer scored five plays later from 20 yards out. South's Adrian Wood took the ensuing kickoff at the Billie 10 and fumbled at the 17. Two plays later, quarterback Justin Ward fired a 23-yard TD to Chris Thomas. The two would hook up two more times in the first half from 19 and 4 yards as Albion built a 34-0 halftime lead.

"Immediately it takes us off schedule from what we're trying to do offensively," said Gallo. South scored the last 20 points of the

game in the fourth quarter from Christian Kranz touchdown throws. He connected twice with Adrian Wood from 65 and 70 yards and once with Jake Keim from 28 yards out. Wood finished with five receptions for 178 yards. Keim caught two balls for 43 yards. Kranz completed 8-of-17 passes for 209 yards and an interception. DaeShaune Clark ran six times for 55 yards.

Nick Brace and Andrew Esposito each made 13 tackles to lead the Billies' defense.

It doesn't get any easier for South when they travel to Cardinal O'Hara for a 2 p.m. game Saturday. Cardinal O'Hara pounded St. Mary's of Lancaster, 42-19 last week. "We've seen Cardinal O'Hara play a couple

of times," said Gallo. "They may feature the best combination of backs that we've seen so far this year in Reggie Garner and Jackkie Feggans. They pose a lot of speed and very shifty. They're going to be a tall challenge to corral them on a consistent basis defensively. We feel we can do some things on them but if we continue to self-destruct we're not going to move the football at all."

"It's just a matter of us putting a complete game together," he continued. "We've haven't done it since week one. You can use all the excuses you like. We have to go out and play a complete football game. It's on the coaches and players to put together."

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com