Pittsford - The LeRoy football team earned its 500th win on Saturday and the performance probably resembled victory No. 1 in 1897. Once again a group of LeRoy ball-carriers gave a defense the run-around, as the Knights rushed for 329 yards during a 49-0 romp over Avon in the Section V Class C football semifinal. Five Oatkan Knights ran for touchdowns at St. John Fisher College, including QB Joe Shaughnessy. The senior also showed that this LeRoy team can throw the ball too, with 2 TD passes.

"Score on them early? Well, I don't know, that's a tough question," Avon coach Andy Englert said when asked how does a team beat the defending sectional champions. "They'll probably move on to bigger places."

LeRoy's eighth finals appearance in nine years was assured by halftime, as they scored on their first four possessions. "We hoped that if we put points on the board it would make them shrivel up a little bit," Shaughnessy said. "Anytime you can get a lead like that (35-0 at halftime) it's good for your team."
"We played very well in the first half. We were diverse today and we hope that it works out the same way against the next team."

LeRoy (9-0), seeded No. 1 and ranked third in the state, has won 8 sectional championships since 1989. To earn another, the Oatkan Knights must beat rival Caledonia-Mumford (8-1) at noon, Nov. 10, at Fauver Stadium. No. 2 Cal-Mum can give a first-hand account of LeRoy's execution on both offense and defense. The Oatkan Knights beat the Red Raiders 21-0 the second week of the season. That was the second of 5 shutouts so far by LeRoy's defense. No. 5 Avon scratched out just 78 yards of offense, and was stopped on 4th and goal at the LeRoy 3 while down 21 points in the second quarter.

"The longer that they (Avon) are in the game, the stronger they are," LeRoy lineman Jake Syracuse said. "They are not a bad football team. We had to make sure that we kept them out of the game for as long as we could."

Senior RB Joe Cosimeno did his part. He ran 2 yards for a score and hauled in a 13-yard TD reception in the second quarter. Andrew Fox, a sophomore RB and linebacker, chipped in too. For starters, Fox broke the grip of tacklers and slipped by another during a 28-yard TD run for the Knights' first score. "We called the same play two or three plays earlier," Fox said. "I noticed before that the outside was open. Everyone just bunched up in the middle."

Avon's first possession ended after Fox intercepted a swing pass. That set up a sneak play by quarterback Shaughnessy. Shaughnessy helped push LeRoy's lead to 21-0 when he rolled to his left and lofted a 23-yard TD pass to WR Sam DeFazio. "That's what makes a good team," Cosimeno said. "We can run or pass. We can do anything."