Healthy Rangers take down Sayre
SHICKSHINNY — Leading up to Friday night, Northwest had been licking its wounds. Now, it's licking its chops.
With the Rangers back to full strength, they put together a balanced offensive attack with three rushing scores and three passing TDs to defeat winless Sayre 44-28.
The approach is something Leigh Bonczewski has been preaching all season and is pleased to get.
"We're finally getting to where we wanted to be," he said. "This is the first game all year where we had all of our kids on the field at the same time, and this is what we can do."
It started and ended with Dominic Cavuto's efforts. If not for his team-high 83 rushing yards, the Rangers would have finished in the negative for the night. Instead, with him making the move from fullback to tailback, he provided a plethora of big runs when the team needed them the most.
He started the game's scoring with a 6-yard scamper and scored the team's last points the same way. He also added a 5-yard TD in the third quarter after Hickory Bonham blocked a Redskins' punt attempt, putting the Rangers at Sayre's 6-yard line to begin the drive.
Cavuto was also a big playmaker on defense — along with Nick Stevens — getting after the Redskins' ball carriers.
"He really performed well tonight (as a tailback)," Bonczewski said. "Defensively, he's played that well all year — he's just a hitter and all over the place."
Cavuto's strong rushing game opened up passing lanes for Jace McCoy. He was singing — or slinging, rather — his praises to the tune of 221 yards on 14 of 22 passing.
His biggest beneficiary was Adam Chonko as the two connected for big plays all night, starting with a 62-yard wheel route on the opening drive. Chonko finished with four catches for 114 yards. He couldn't possibly finish the game without a touchdown, as he came away with a 23-yard score in the third quarter, and for good measure hauled in the two-point conversion.
Andrew Bonczewski, recently back from injury, was on the receiving end of McCoy's other two touchdown passes. He caught a 9-yard score in the second quarter and, following a nice out route for 8 yards to help move the chains on fourth down, caught a 5-yard TD in the fourth.
"It was a sigh of relief to see the kids come out and play the way they did (after last week's tough loss to Montgomery)," Leigh Bonczewski said. "The score isn't indicative of how well they played. They really put it all together tonight, on both sides of the ball."
The Redskins, having only 17 players available, did have some late life against the Rangers' second team, but it came too late. The two teams went tit for tat, scoring three combined touchdowns in just over two minutes.
Penalties at costly times, especially on great punt returns cost them great field position and potentially more scoring opportunities. The Redskins were penalized 12 times for 116 yards.
"If we take care of our penalties, I think this game is definitely different," Sayre coach Ricky Lindblad said. "It took away some first downs and big plays away that we weren't able to recover from."
Sayre's three fourth-quarter drives took seven plays altogether. Quarterback Nick Pellicano accounted for two of those, including a 40-yard scamper to help his rushing totals go positive for the night. Jamier Kole, who finished with 47 yards rushing on three carries had the other TD in the final frame.
"The kids didn't quit and kept battling until the end," Lindblad said. "Our numbers are down, and we needed some kids to step up and they did that tonight."
Kaden Bennett finished with a game-high 92 yards. He accounted for the team's first touchdown in the first quarter.
Link to story: https://www.pressenterpriseonl...
