The Willowcreek Braves and Fegley Warriors “A” football teams met in their annual battle at the Warpath on Tuesday night. Each year the two crosstown rivals face off in the final game of the season which takes place on the Portage High School varsity football field.
The Braves kept their winning streak in the crosstown match-up alive by beating the Warriors by a score of 22-8. In the opening minutes, it looked as if Fegley was finally ready to end the drought and turn things around. They got on the board first when Avery Sanders poked the ball across the plane from one yard out. After a run play on the two-point conversion, the Warrior were in front 8-0.
The Fegley defense held up through the end of the first quarter, but early on in the second the Braves tied things. Jared Nieves dashed into the endzone for a touchdown and the conversion made the contest an 8-8 stalemate. Nieves got most of the carries and led the ‘Creek in rushing yards. On the final play of the first half, the Warriors tossed an interception. Willowcreek made every effort to try to return it all the way with a series of laterals. Finally, the ball carrier was brought down and Fegley escaped the half with the game still knotted up.
At half time, the Warriors’ boys eighth grade cross country team was honored. They were the conference champions this season. Skyler Freeman, CJ Johnson, Matt Stanish, Jacob Galvor, Nick Heimberg, Colin Chenoweth, Nick Stelmack, Adam Guerrero, Tylor Hason, Nic Nondorf, Koste Kocoski and JR Stilwell were all part of the championship team.
Once the action on the turf resumed, both defenses came up with some big stops on third and fourth down plays. The score remained even for most of the third quarter. Finally, Willowcreek QB Steve Ford hooked up with multi-talented back Jared Nieves for a 29 yard touchdown via the air. The Braves showed off their impressive passing game, which is rare for a middle school team.
Alex Guerrero put the game away with a minute left on a 19 yard run for a score. The two-point try failed so the Braves won it 22-8. The Warriors had the ball and tried to put a final scoring drive together, but it stalled around midfield as time expired. Fegley’s star performer was running back Avery Sanders, who led them all the way down field on their opening drive of the game that turned into an early score. He kept up his strong performance throughout the night in the losing effort.
Willowcreek is under a new head coach this season. Lon Soloman has taken the club over after previous coach Tim Haupt was promoted to the head junior varsity coach at Portage High School. Rich Lynch has returned to the sidelines this season at Trumble Field after a three year hiatus of coaching to spend time with his young daughter.
The Braves and Warriors will come together and play as one next year as they become freshmen at PHS. The Indians freshman football coach is Nick Wellman, who is a gym teacher at the Willowcreek and used to teach at Fegley.
Written by Brandon Vickery, Sports Co-Editor at PHSNewsOnline.com.