When the Canandaigua and Victor football teams met on Sept. 14, it was one of the most entertaining games of the season with the Blue Devils coming out on top, 42-35. The rivals meet again in the Section 5 Class A quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Friday at Corbit Field in Victor.
“It’s exciting being able to play your rival twice in a year, the kids relish it and I do as well,” Braves coach Jeff Welch said. “It’s going to be a great atmosphere and great crowd. It’s a chance to play in the semi’s and because it is our rival it gives us a little more of an incentive.”
Victor (6-1) is No. 3 seed in the playoffs with its only loss coming to No. 1 Eastridge two weeks ago. Canandaigua (4-3) is the No. 6 seed with its losses coming to Victor, Brockport and Eastridge in consecutive weeks, but they were all close games.
The key for the Blue Devils in the previous match-up was the read option executed by quarterback Mike Wagner. The sophomore had the option of keeping the ball or handing it off to his brother and running back Tommy Wagner. The brothers got the job done against the Braves as Tommy rushed 39 times for 301 yards and six touchdowns and Mike rushed 14 times for 69 yards.
“Up front our guys did a really nice job,” Victor coach Geoff Mandile said. “My sense is we wore them down a bit in the second half. I know we’re going to make adjustments and they’re going to make adjustments to our adjustments. It’s a little bit of that cat and mouse game.”
Victor struggled to stop Canandaigua in the fourth quarter. The Braves’ senior quarterback Austin Coyne threw touchdowns to cut the lead to seven twice, but Canandaigua couldn’t recover either onside kick.
Mandile knows his defense needs to “at least contain” the Braves’ rushing attack. Canandaigua has been able to run the ball with Anthony Pagliano (39 carries for 293 yards and three touchdowns), Jaymin Ransom (39 carries for 397 yards and five touchdowns) and Sean Outhouse (131 carries for 485 yards and seven touchdowns).
“They have speed when they go wildcat, Pagliano is very elusive, as is Ransom,” the Victor coach said. “Then they have Outhouse who kind of pounds at you. They do multiple things. They move the chains and have big plays and keep you off balance.”
Going into the season, Mandile wanted to pick one starting quarterback, but he couldn’t because of how well Mike Wagner and Pat Metzger were playing. Wagner is the better runner with 67 carries for 441 yards and five touchdowns on the year, but Metzger is the better passer, completing 57.1 percent of his throws for 681 yards, nine touchdowns and no interceptions.
Welch said the Braves will need to slow down the Wagner brothers this time around.
“The key is going to be ball possession offensively,” the Canandaigua coach said. “We’ve improved over the last two weeks defensively. We gave up major points to Brockport, Victor and Eastridge, but over the last two weeks the kids have understood what they need to do to stop an offense.”
Neither team could get a defense stop in the fourth quarter last time around. Friday’s winner could be the team whose defense can get a big stop or cause a turnover.
When the Canandaigua and Victor football teams met on Sept. 14, it was one of the most entertaining games of the season with the Blue Devils coming out on top, 42-35. The rivals meet again in the Section 5 Class A quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Friday at Corbit Field in Victor.
“It’s exciting being able to play your rival twice in a year, the kids relish it and I do as well,” Braves coach Jeff Welch said. “It’s going to be a great atmosphere and great crowd. It’s a chance to play in the semi’s and because it is our rival it gives us a little more of an incentive.”
Victor (6-1) is No. 3 seed in the playoffs with its only loss coming to No. 1 Eastridge two weeks ago. Canandaigua (4-3) is the No. 6 seed with its losses coming to Victor, Brockport and Eastridge in consecutive weeks, but they were all close games.
The key for the Blue Devils in the previous match-up was the read option executed by quarterback Mike Wagner. The sophomore had the option of keeping the ball or handing it off to his brother and running back Tommy Wagner. The brothers got the job done against the Braves as Tommy rushed 39 times for 301 yards and six touchdowns and Mike rushed 14 times for 69 yards.
“Up front our guys did a really nice job,” Victor coach Geoff Mandile said. “My sense is we wore them down a bit in the second half. I know we’re going to make adjustments and they’re going to make adjustments to our adjustments. It’s a little bit of that cat and mouse game.”
Victor struggled to stop Canandaigua in the fourth quarter. The Braves’ senior quarterback Austin Coyne threw touchdowns to cut the lead to seven twice, but Canandaigua couldn’t recover either onside kick.
Mandile knows his defense needs to “at least contain” the Braves’ rushing attack. Canandaigua has been able to run the ball with Anthony Pagliano (39 carries for 293 yards and three touchdowns), Jaymin Ransom (39 carries for 397 yards and five touchdowns) and Sean Outhouse (131 carries for 485 yards and seven touchdowns).
“They have speed when they go wildcat, Pagliano is very elusive, as is Ransom,” the Victor coach said. “Then they have Outhouse who kind of pounds at you. They do multiple things. They move the chains and have big plays and keep you off balance.”
Going into the season, Mandile wanted to pick one starting quarterback, but he couldn’t because of how well Mike Wagner and Pat Metzger were playing. Wagner is the better runner with 67 carries for 441 yards and five touchdowns on the year, but Metzger is the better passer, completing 57.1 percent of his throws for 681 yards, nine touchdowns and no interceptions.
Welch said the Braves will need to slow down the Wagner brothers this time around.
“The key is going to be ball possession offensively,” the Canandaigua coach said. “We’ve improved over the last two weeks defensively. We gave up major points to Brockport, Victor and Eastridge, but over the last two weeks the kids have understood what they need to do to stop an offense.”
Neither team could get a defense stop in the fourth quarter last time around. Friday’s winner could be the team whose defense can get a big stop or cause a turnover.
