Amherst football closes season with optimism
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

The Amherst Central football team couldn't have ended the 2007 season any better.

The Tigers (3-6) scored 14 points in the second quarter and an additional 19 points in the third quarter to beat Newfane, 33-7, last Wednesday. It was Amherst's second straight win.

"It was the perfect game for us," said Amherst coach Patrick Murphy. "We were able to play a lot of seniors and all of our sophomores that we brought up from JV. It was a great way to end the season on a positive note.

"I think the team finally understood what it took to get ready for a game," Murphy continued. "They were relaxed and had fun playing, which was important."

Juniors Pharoah Gayles and Robert Flint scored on 8-yard touchdown runs in the second quarter, and junior Joe Kubek caught a two-point conversion from senior Viron Hale after Flint's TD to give the Tigers a 14-0 halftime lead.

Junior running back Bert Smith broke open the game on the first play of the second half, returning the opening kickoff 74 yards for a touchdown.

"We called a reverse on the play, but they kicked it kind of strange so we couldn't set up our blocks," said Murphy. "When he took off, he was completely on his own. He made some big time cutbacks, broke it into the open field and outran everybody. It was a great run."

Smith finished with 10 rushes for 124 yards, his longest run being 52 yards.

Matt Weber and Hale added TD runs of 35 and 5 yards in the third quarter. Both were set up by interceptions made by Amherst defenders Diangelo Flint and Kevin Ford, respectively.

Other defensive standouts for Amherst were safety Matt Weber (14 tackles), linebacker Casey Rich (13 tackles) and junior linebacker Alex Dennis (eight tackles, sack, pass deflect, forced and recovered fumble).

"The defense played outstanding and looked as good as they have been all year," said Murphy. "They made some big plays and held them on downs inside our 20 three or four times."

Amherst graduates 13 seniors but returns its entire backfield (Smith, Flint, Gayles), quarterbacks (Kubek and Kevin Denny) and four of its five offensive linemen (juniors Pete Battaglia, Vance Reeds, and Kyle Hutchinson and sophomore Dion Merrill).

"We didn't win as many games as we wanted to; our goal is to win a league championship and get to the playoffs, but I felt the 13 seniors laid the groundwork for years to come," said Murphy.

"I'm interested in building a football program at Amherst, not a team," he added. "It's not a one-year deal."

Season stats

Smith led the offense with 1,096 yards on 142 carries and 11 touchdowns. He also caught 16 receptions for 137 yards and one TD and returned 16 kickoffs for 420 yards for a 26.25 average and two punts for 76 yards.

Flint had 67 carries for 401 yards and four TDs.

Hale was the leading receiver with 17 catches for 208 yards and two scores.

Denny was the team's best passer, completing 33 of 59 passes for 421 yards and three TDs.

Weber paced the Tigers' defense with 23 solo tackles and 67 assisted tackles. He averaged 11 tackles per game. Senior D.J. Filer sacked opposing quarterbacks a team-leading five times. Ford and Hale shared the team lead in interceptions with three.

The team's football banquet will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 11 at Classics V, 2425 Niagara Falls Blvd.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com