Chiefs rally for injured teammate
Iroquois defeats Sweet Home for 'A' title after QB breaks leg early
by JASON NADOLINSKI Reporter

Sweet Home's Marcus Johnson finds a hole in the Iroquois defense during second quarter action at last Friday's Section VI Class A final at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Iroquois won 53-20. Photo by Patrick McPartland

The number seven has played a prominent role in Iroquois football coach Frank Payne's life.

His daughter was born on March 31, weighing in at seven pounds and seven ounces. She was born in the hospital's room number seven. And in Payne's seventh year as the Chiefs' coach, the team's star player was number seven, senior quarterback/ kicker Kyle Shevlin.

So when Shevlin went down with a broken leg not even two minutes into the first quarter of last Friday's Section VI Class A championship game against Sweet Home, the Chiefs could have easily surmised that it wasn't their year and given up.

However, the power of number seven wouldn't deny the Chiefs that night as they went on to soundly defeat the Panthers at Ralph Wilson Stadium, 53-20, behind a 35-point third quarter that blew the game wide open. The championship is Iroquois' second in three years.

"This one is just as sweet," Payne said. "It's something you can't get used to. In the game of football, when you have great coaches like John Faller and the other guys we've played against, to go 9-0 ... you never get bored with this."

After the game, Iroquois's players celebrated the victory in part by hoisting Shevlin's jersey for the crowd to cheer. It was a similar scene to two years ago, when the Chiefs were holding up running back Steve Mamak's jersey following their 18-14 win over Lewiston-Porter for their first sectional title. Mamak, the team's star at the time, did not play most of that game after suffering an ankle injury.

"It's weird because it's almost the same thing that happened with Mamak in 2004," Payne said. "It's so ironic; our horse goes down at sectionals in 2004, and now Kyle goes down and the kids are carrying seven jerseys. We're just want Kyle to be healthy, that's the thing we care about right now."

Junior Wyatt Mariacher filled in admirably for Shevlin in the quarterbacking department, finishing the game 5 of 8 for 123 yards and three touchdowns. Mariacher wasted no time establishing the Chiefs' passing game, completing both his attempts on his first drive for a total of 59 yards, including a 26-yard touchdown pass to senior Mike Perilo. The two-point conversion pass was no good, though, leaving Iroquois in front 6-0.

"I didn't know what was going on, it hit me so fast," Mariacher said. "It was scary. We're like brothers. We played the game for him. It was incredible, I just can't explain it."

Sweet Home, which played in the title game last year, was not fazed by the Chiefs' early success, marching down the field in its first drive to knot the game at 6-6 with 4:18 to play in the first quarter. The Panthers, who took four minutes off the clock with their eight-play, 61-yard long drive, tied to score when junior Eric Lawrence hauled in a 20-yard pass from senior Ian Goree. Sweet Home missed the extra point kick attempt, leaving the score tied at 6-6.

Sweet Home's defense then came up big at the end of the quarter, catching Iroquois sophomore Brandon Murie at the four-yard line after he ripped a 54-yard run on a third and two situation. The Panthers' goal line defense held strong from that point on, holding the Chiefs out of the end zone to get the ball back with 1:11 to play.

Neither team could really get anything going again until midway through the second quarter, when Mariacher and Perilo hooked up for a touchdown pass once again. Scoring on fourth down from one yard out, the Chiefs reclaimed the lead, 12-6, but the two-point conversion pass was once again no good as Lawrence intercepted the attempt.

"I think they just rallied around Shevlin," Faller said. "None of of the athletes they could sub in could do all the things he did. You just never know what's going to happen."

Both teams then traded turnovers to end the half, though Sweet Home's hurt a bit more. The Panthers, who were moving the ball fairly well, saw senior James Kennedy break a number of tackles on what looked to be a long touchdown run, but the ball popped loose from Kennedy's grip in the end zone and it was recovered by Iroquois with 3:18 to play in the half. The Chiefs did give the ball back with 17 seconds to go when senior Ryan Hughson picked off Mariacher.

"We figured if we played a good game, we'd be right there," Faller said. "That last possession before the half took a little sass out of us."

Things opened up in the second half as everything that could go right for Iroquois and wrong for Sweet Home did in the third quarter. The Chiefs used a long pass play, two short running plays and two interceptions to post five touchdowns and blow open what had been a close, competitive contest.

Mariacher and Perilo got things started with their third connection of the game, this time from 50 yards, to push Iroquois's lead to 18-6 after the failed two-point conversion run. The Chiefs immediately got the ball back when their squib kick bounced off a Sweet Home player's shin and Iroquois recovered, and the Chiefs needed just 1:30 to move junior Tommy Lewis into position for a four-yard scoring run. Murie tacked on the two-point conversion run to push Iroquois's advantage to 26-6.

Already reeling from Iroquois's quick scoring, the Panthers had more bad luck as Mariacher intercepted a pass that went through the Sweet Home receiver's hands and returned it 79 yards for the score just 1:15 after Lewis's touchdown. Right before the interception, Lawrence had a pass glance off his fingertips in the end zone.

Iroquois needed just two defensive plays and 25 seconds to get its second interception return for a score when senior Tom Siejak returned one 18 yards to give the Chiefs a 40-6 lead. Iroquois's extra point kick was good, giving the Chiefs the 41-6 lead, but they still weren't done.

Iroquois's offense trotted back on the field after just two plays as Jared Lina recovered a Sweet Home fumble near midfield. The Chiefs, now playing their reserves, ran sophomore junior varsity call-up Matt Corigliano on five consecutive plays. Corigliano capped the drive, which included a 39-yard run, with a two-yard plunge to push the score to 47-6 in Iroquois's favor.

"It got to the point where it just wasn't our night," Faller said. "I've been on the other side of that kind of game. Having two interceptions returned for touchdowns within two minutes just broke our back. The kids did play with a lot of heart, though, and we told them after the game that they had nothing to be ashamed of."

Iroquois broke Starpoint's 22-year old record for points scored in the Section VI championships (51) on its final touchdown of the game, a 94-yard sprint up the right sideline by Corigliano that broke a seven year old championship-game record (84 yards) and put the icing on the victory.

Corigliano's record-breaking scoring run was sandwiched in between a pair of Sweet Home touchdowns, but it was no where near enough for the Panthers to be able to make up for Iroquois' third-quarter dominance. The Panthers' first score was a three-yard run by senior Allen Douglas, and the second was a a 49-yard pass from JV call-up Casey Kacz to senior Andrew Montanez.

"There's no one that should beat us that bad, but when things start rolling, sometimes you can't stop them," Faller said. "These kids did a good job at getting back to the stadium, but you feel bad for them because all of a sudden, it's over. It's tough for them to take. There's a lot of emotion that goes through a game like that, especially at the stadium."

Iroquois was led offensively by Murie, who finished with 204 yards on 21 carries, while Corigliano added 161 yards on 11 carries, while Perilo finished with 123 yards on five receptions. Defensively, the Chiefs were paced by senior Tyler Brady's nine tackles. Seniors Lucas Mader and Matt Wesolowski each added six stops.

Sweet Home was led offensively by Douglas, who had 84 yards on 16 carries, and sophomore JV call-up Will Reese, who added 46 yards on four carries. Goree finished the game 10 of 20 for 165 yards, while Kacz added 68 yards by completing both of his pass attempts. Junior Marcus Johnson caught five passes for 126 yards, while Lawrence added 37 yards receiving on four catches.

Defensively, Sweet Home was paced by senior Paul Tagliarino's 13 tackles, while senior Augustine Merlino added seven tackles.

Iroquois will now return to Ralph Wilson Stadium at 6 p.m. Saturday to play Section V's Aquinas in the Class A Far West Regional. The winner of that game will then advance to next weekend's state semifinal in Rochester.

e-mail: jnadolinski@beenews.com