Dolac III Stars In Battle of West Seneca

With the way West Seneca West has struggled in recent years, it wouldn’t appear their regular season finale against crosstown rival West Seneca East would mean anything other than pride. However, with an upset victory at Lake Shore last week, West actually put themselves in position where an upset victory over the Trojans could land them in the Section VI playoffs.

East wasn’t having any of it.

The Trojans played Billy Buzzkill to the Indians championship playoff dreams, defeating West 49-14 in front of a disappointed yet still boisterous gathering at West Stadium.

The crosstown rivalry between East & West is always a big deal, but lately it’s been extremely one-sided affair.  East has now won four straight and outscored West, 145-21 over that span, including a 50-0 drubbing in 2014.

However, unlike last year’s blowout, this year’s game was much closer than the score indicated, as West spent a much of the first three quarters East’s equal if not better team on both sides of the ball.

“They played very tough in a rivalry game and have nothing to hang their hats on,” East head coach Jim Maurino said. “They came to play tonight and gave us all we can handle for much of the game. A lot of tonight was a grind”

Unfortunately for the Indians, mistakes on special teams plagued them in the first half, as they fell into a hole they couldn’t climb out of.

They also didn’t have John Dolac III.  Clearly the best player on the field, the East senior running back/linebacker had an answer each time West tried to rally.  Dolac ran for 171 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries, and added eight tackles on defense.

“He’s just a grinder out there,” Maurino said of his star player. “He brings maximum effort each and every time he’s out there and on each and every play. He’s always a difference maker for us and tonight in a rivalry game it was no exception.”

Dolac III may have landed the knockout blows later in the fight, but early on East feasted on special teams for a two touchdown cushion.

Sophomore Jacob Maurino put East in the lead and stunned the crowd just 13 seconds in the game---taking the opening kickoff  and going nearly untouched thanks to some great blocking  for 88 yards and a score.

One of the strangest play’s you’ll ever see led to East’s second score of the first quarter.  Under pressure, West punter Jacob Mancuso shanked a punk—a line drive that traveled 10 yards and literally right into the gut of waiting lineman Joe Ciraulo, who broke the tackle attempt of a stunned Mancuso and rumbled 45 yards for the touchdown.

West got on the board and cut the lead in half, 14-7 when Dawson Broad hit Jack Myers with a 10-yard touchdown pass; one play after Dawson connected with Wil Cordero on a 48 yard bomb down the left sideline to the East 10.

Broad completed 11-of-32 passes for 177 yards.

East again seized control in the second quarter when a 66-yard pass and catch from Austin Breidenstein to Jalexis Santiago got the Trojans inside the West 15, and Dolac eventually punched it in from three yards with 5:27 left before the half.

Fighting valiantly for most the first half, West started to wear down late in the second quarter and the Trojans made them pay. A 60-yard drive was capped by Dolac’s second short touchdown run with 42 seconds before halftime, and Breidenstein’s two point conversion run sent East into the locker room with a 28-7 lead.

The Indians found new life late in the third. After forcing a punt deep in West territory, East took over at the Indians 25 with less than four minutes remaining in the third and looking to put the game out of reach.  However, on fourth and sixth from the West 21, Cordero perfectly jumped a Breidenstein pass, picked it off and returned it 82 yards for a touchdown to cut the West deficit to 28-14.

After three quarters West was very much in the game… and then it all went downhill as the Trojans outscored them 21-0 in the final quarter.

First a seven yard run from Breidenstein (15 carries/87 yards) with 9:24 left put East back up three touchdowns and after a defensive stop, Dolac went right up the gut 57 yards nearly untouched for his third score of the day, prompting the sizable East crowd on the visitors side to start a “JD3” chant.

“I’m just part of a team and this is a team game,” Dolac III said. “The line did a great job of blocking. I was just running hard. They played tough defense against us for a lot of the night but I think we started to wear them down.”

Maurino capped the scoring with a 26-yard touchdown run.

East now advances to the Class-A Section VI playoff as the second seed in the South division, where they will likely play the loser of Saturday afternoon’s Williamsville North vs. Williamsville South matchup in West Seneca next weekend.

“We’re going to be ready,” Dolac said.  “We got a lot to do for sure. We’re going to have to work harder than we have all year at practice. But we’re going to be ready.”