GAME PHOTOS: http://bit.ly/2olOaD1
After two straight seasons of major improvements for the Newbury Black Knights football program under coach Ryan Williams, this year’s version of Newbury football began its season with several questions about the program’s future.
The team will need to learn to play without significant players from a year ago.
Also, considering the vast uncertainty of the life of the Newbury system itself, some have used open enrollment to head elsewhere.
That second factor has put the team into a bit of a lurch heading into this season, with only 17 players coming out.
But in spite of that, the Black Knights football team played its Week 1 game in brand new stadium seating — and with a full house.
Newbury’s opponent, Fairport, had some solid skill players back this season and, keyed by one of them, overcame a 7-0 Newbury halftime lead to win the non-conference battle on a beautiful night, 14-7.
“Considering we had 10 kids playing both ways tonight,” Newbury coach Ryan Williams said, “I think we played a very good game. Our season will be all about the kids going all out every play, because we just don’t have the numbers we’ve had the last couple of seasons, nor have we had the experience at times.”
The teams battled to a near-total stalemate in the first half.
Both totaled 76 yards of offense as defenses ruled the roost. It was the Black Knight defense that provided that 7-0 lead.
With 3:03 left in the opening period, a short punt to the Skipper 32 set up the Black Knight offense for its only real thrust of the game.
On the first play of the second quarter, Noah Parsons powered his way into the end zone for the first score of the year, and Alex Piczer drilled the extra point perfectly.
The drive was keyed by a pair of first downs, then, on third down from the 20-yard line, a possible point of strength for Newbury showed its face in the person of tight end Mitch Sanders.
In his sophomore season last year, Sanders did yeoman’s work.
One thing that was tough to duplicate, for Sanders, was catching the football when thrown at him. He has worked on the technique, though, as quarterback Parsons threw a wobbly offering up in the air in Sanders’ direction at the one yard line. The dedicated junior grabbed the ball from the hands of two defenders and held on for a first down at the one.
Parsons bulled his way in on the first play of the second period, and the home side of the new stands was very much alive.
However, things changed drastically in the second half, and not in Newbury’s favor.
The teams traded a trio of punts opening the third period, with Fairport taking over on their own 33 with 4:29 left in the quarter after Parsons drilled a 41-yard punt.
Fairport went on to score twice on a series of runs and a critical two-point conversion.
The Skippers offense found a few plays that worked, and Newbury, surely getting tired as the game worn, couldn’t enough answers.
Unofficially, Julian Cichella was in on 17 tackles, Jacob Orms was close behind with 15, and John Tropf added 12 stops and assists. Fairport only tried a pair of passes, but none came close; the Black Knight smothered everything all night, but those trap plays proved to be a killer.
Parsons capped the offense for Newbury with 77 yards on 23 carries. The yardage might well have been over 100 yards had a couple of bad snaps and fumbles cut into his efforts.
Parsons did complete three passes for 39 yards, two of them to Sanders, but the Black Knights didn’t have much success getting receivers open, nor did Parsons have much time to pass anyway thanks to the Fairport pass rush.
Things don’t get any easier for the Black Knights as they travel to Geneva to the Spire Institute this week to take on a rejuvenated St. John team that bounced Mathews in their opener, 14-0.
“We made some adjustments at halftime tonight,” Williams said. “The kids are all in with giving anything we suggest a good try. They did it tonight, but we just fell short. We all have a lot to be proud of, though, and I know, with this bunch of kids, that will never change. That is a big part of the educational process as well, for which Newbury has much to be proud of now.”
On a warm, beautiful night under clear, sunny skies, new bleachers gave hope for a great season of Newbury football.
“The kids have gone through a lot of different things, and I can’t say enough about how proud I am of the effort they have given to our program,” Williams said. “We’ve worked hard. We lost some darn good football players, too, to graduation and open enrollment. But we still came out tonight and laid it all out there for their teammates and the school and community.”