Amherst football closes season on winning note
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Amherst Central's 42-32 home win over Cheektowaga last Friday was not just about picking up the victory.

"It was a great night because we were able to honor our seniors," said Amherst coach Rob Gross. "Unfortunately we weren't allowed to compete for the (Federation) playoffs (because of the October snowstorm). The two games that we were forced to cancel were home games. It was great to finish up at home, honor the seniors properly and win our fifth game."

Viron Hale recovered a fumble on the second play of the game to give Amherst good field position. A few plays later, Andre Hakeem rushed in from two yards out.

"We played very solid football from the start of the game and put them into a situation where they had to play catch up the whole night," said Gross.

Hakeem finished with 266 yards and five TDs. He also scored from 7, 1, 5 and 11 yards. Gross said Hakeem finished over 1,000 yards for the season. Bertrum Smith scored from 15 yards out as Amherst led 20-0 after the first quarter. Cordell Freeman added 75 yards on nine carries.

Amherst second half turnovers led to two Nick McKlean scores as Cheektowaga closed the gap to 28-19 but Hakeem scores a TD in the third and fourth quarter. The Amherst defense held Cheektowaga on downs with six minutes to play, then the Amherst offense ran out the clock. Chris Brunetto played well defensively, Gross said. Amherst also beat Cheektowaga, 22-12, in Week Three.

Amherst finished 5-3. Fourteen seniors graduate.

"It's a tremendous tribute to our seniors to leave Amherst with a winning record," Gross said. "I'm proud of the fact that they love football so much that they were willing to whatever it took to play football even though that disappointment (not qualifying for playoffs) was underlying everything."

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com