Class A Preview: South Park vs West Seneca East

Merely one game stands between South Park making Western New York high school football history.  Since Buffalo public schools joined Section VI football in 2010 no school has ever captured a class championship.  That can change Thursday night at Ralph Wilson Stadium when the Sparks do battle with West Seneca East at 7:30pm.

South Park had the same opportunity last year, but fell short in the Class A final against Sweet Home, 27-18.

The Sparks know if they’re to be in that inaugural class of city school Section VI winners, they better do it Thursday. Burgard plays Cheektowaga in the Class B final before them Thursday and while the Bulldogs are underdogs, they have at least a fighting chance to pull an upset win.  Another Buffalo city school, Bennett is playing for the Class C crown on Friday afternoon and they’re very heavily favored over Maple Grove.

For South Park, this year is a little different than 2014 when they were underdogs against Sweet Home. The Sparks have been atop the Class A division all season; going undefeated in league play during the regular season and easily handling Williamsville South and Iroquois in the playoffs. The only blemish on their 8-1 season was a three point loss at Canisius.

Their impressive run includes a 39-26 victory at West Seneca East nearly four weeks ago. That night, South Park quarterback Tyree Brown set a school-record with 371 yards passing to go with four touchdown passes. He also had 114 yards rushing and a touchdown with his legs.

That’s not a misprint—485 yards via his legs and arm along with five total touchdowns.

If you’ve seen Brown in action, his conquering venture to West Seneca was hardly surprising. Considered by many the odds-on favorite to capture WNY Player of the Year honors, Brown’s completed 79-of-148 passes for 1,823 yards and 23 touchdowns through the air and ran for 844 yards and 12 touchdowns on 72 carries.  If that’s not enough, he’s also recorded four interceptions, including three in their semifinal win over Iroquois last week.

Brown’s primary targets are David Thomas and Darryl Moore.  Thomas has 689 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns while Moore has grabbed 29 passes for 723 yards and seven touchdowns, including three against East.

The Trojans are gunning for some history of their own, having not enjoyed a Section VI crown since 1981. The heart and soul of their team undeniably is senior running back/linebacker John Dolac III. Dolac has closed in on 1,000 yards rushing, found the end zone 19 times and has five interceptions, but his value goes far beyond numbers.  He’s one of the toughest, grittiest players in all of Western New York and warrants serious consideration for Player of the Year honors come awards season.

Just like Brown and South Park, West Seneca East isn’t just a one-man show. Quarterback Austin Breidenstein can beat you with his legs as easily as his arm, and running back Ray Johnson had a monster day in their semifinal win at Williamsville North; rushing for 166 yards and two touchdowns.  Jalexis Santiago scored three touchdowns against the Spartans as the Trojans punched their ticket to the Ralph.

The first meeting between South Park and East was closer than the score indicated.  The Sparks led late in the second quarter just 7-0 before two East turnovers in the final four minutes led to a pair of South Park touchdowns and a three-touchdown lead at halftime. East would trail 27-6 after three quarters before battling back frantically to make a game of it, trailing just 33-26 with 2:43 left before Thomas sealed the South Park win with a 49-yard game-clinching touchdown run.

Here’s more…

Why South Park Will Win: Simply put, they’re the superior team athletically. East tangibly doesn’t have a lot of answers for guys like Brown, Thomas and Moore among others. The Sparks have the physical talent and play enough defense that if they play a relatively clean game, it’s going to be difficult to beat them.

Why South Park Is In Trouble: There’s a lot of pressure on the Sparks to win. For starters, they’re unequivocally favored.  East proved in the second half of their first encounter they can play with them, outscoring South Park 26-19 in the second half. In that game the Sparks did themselves no favors by getting into penalty trouble and had some positive plays negated. A repeat of that may not yield such harmless results.

Why West Seneca East Will Win: They may have lost the first battle, but playing well in the second half goes a long way mentally.  Head coach Jim Maurino knows his defense had no answer against South Park last month, but don’t discount he and his staff’s ability to sculpt out a worthier game plan this time around. Don’t be stunned to see East try to make South Park dink-and-dunk down the field, and perhaps that frustrates them into impatient mistakes. Lastly, never underrate the influence Dolac can have on this game. Offensively he can run like a bull and move the chains, and defensively I’d be shocked if he’s not doing a lot more Brown shadowing in this rematch.

Why West Seneca East Is In Trouble: They’re secondary was battered by South Park in the first meeting, with undersized corners trying to match up against the big Sparks receivers. They have to find a way to combat that, and unfortunately for that’s easier said than done.  Since East doesn’t have a prolific passing game, they can’t afford to get in any kind of track meet, as the results would likely prove disastrous.  East committed two second quarter turnovers in their first meeting and it resulted in 14 points against them. They have no chance if they hand South Park two touchdowns off turnovers again.

The South Park X-Factor: David Thomas had 92 yards rushing and 108 receiving in the first meeting and with Brown remaining the guy East is most focused on stopping, Thomas could be in line for a very memorable evening, as head coach Tim Delaney knows how to use him.

The West Seneca East X-Factor: Austin Breidenstein ran for 158 yards in their first encounter, in part because the Sparks were absorbed on stopping Dolac inside and Santiago/Johnson outside.  Breidenstein ran the read-option superbly in the second half last month and if he picks his spots wisely, chances to have game-changing long runs are there for the taking.

For The Winner: The winning team represents Section VI in the Regional Finals against a Section V team at Sahlen’s Stadium (Rochester) on Saturday November 14^th at 6:00pm.