LE ROY - The Caledonia-Mumford football team had the third longest winning streak in New York State coming into Friday's matchup with rival Le Roy. The Oatkan Knights' defense made sure the 15-game win
streak was snapped as Le Roy won a 14-8 thriller in the pouring rain at Hartwood Park.

"That's how it always is when it's Le Roy vs. Cal-Mum," running back/linebacker Andrew Fox said. "Last week, we played a great defensive game too and it carried over to today. We let up a few times, but
we stepped it up big-time in the last quarter."

The defense was able to limit the Cal-Mum rushing attack - which was missing starting tailback Jeremy Darron - and forced quarterback Bob Toland to try and beat them. After Cal-Mum scored late in the fourth quarter and recovered the onside kick, the Le Roy defense really stepped up. The Red Raiders (2-1) were driving and Toland hooked up with Justin Walsh. Fox and Mike Pacer stripped the ball and John Zinni recovered the fumble. Le Roy had four plays but turned the ball over on downs at its own 14-yard line after Mark Bennetti was stopped on a fourth-and-one. "It was a quarterback sneak," Fox said. "Coach wanted
us to run out the time and get a (delay of game) penalty again, but the quarterback thought he could
make it and he couldn't."

Toland was unable to complete a pass as the secondary shut down the Red Raider receivers and Le Roy was able to run out the clock. "We just had to make sure nobody got behind us and the big play didn't happen," defensive back Boo Hinett said. "We had to come back and work to the ball and stay behind everything; if you make a play make sure it's coming from back to front."

It was all Le Roy (3-0) for three quarters. The defense caused a three-and-out on the first drive of the game and the offense looked good early on with Fox and Justin Casper - who is filling in for Mike Farabella, who's out with a broken hand - running the football. Casper had a 14-yard run and Fox had a 13-yarder as
the Oatkan Knights drove 60 yards on 13 plays to score the game's first touchdown. Fox had a 1-yard run up the middle for the score and Shaun Swanson kicked the extra point.

The Red Raiders fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Mike Frew recovered. "They got a couple breaks; that's what you need in a close game," Cal-Mum coach Mike Monacelli said. "We had some and they had some on us."

Le Roy couldn't capitalize on the great field position as Fox coughed up the ball. Dan Riggi had the recovery
for Cal-Mum. Tim Dieffenbacher made a big stop on a third-and-four and the Red Raiders had to punt again.
"We were having problems offensively," Monacelli said. "We lost a lineman and a tailback and we're still kind
of trying to find ourselves. It happens. You don't make excuses. We stumbled around in the first half and
we played. We had some chances and it didn't happen."

In the second quarter, Le Roy went on a drive that took more than seven minutes off the clock. But the
Oatkan Knights were stopped at the Cal-Mum 14. Cal-Mum threatened late in the half as Toland hit Aaron Hallett on a 14-yard pass. But Hinett intercepted Toland's lob pass to preserve Le Roy's lead. "We practice that all week," Hinett said. "We worked on special drills and the coaches did a good job of having us prepared. As soon as I started running I knew what to do because I was so used to it."

On their first drive of the second half, the Red Raiders got an 11-yard run from Zach Nothnagle and a
26-yard pass from Toland to Hallett before a bad handoff led to a fumble. Tim Dieffenbacher returned it
28 yards to the Cal-Mum 20, setting up a Fox 15-yard touchdown run. "Everybody stepped it up," Dieffenbacher said. "We were gang tackling out there. It's exactly what we need to win games - strong defense."

On Cal-Mum's next drive, Phil Niccloy had a huge sack and Hinett broke up a pass on a fourth-and-15.
"He's one of those kids that we knew had to step up," Le Roy coach Brian Moran said. "He had a really nice
game." Mark Bennetti and Zinni both broke up passes and Dieffenbacher had a sack as Le Roy stopped Cal-Mum on its first drive of the fourth quarter. But Cal-Mum wasn't going to let that win streak get snapped without some drama.

A bad handoff on Le Roy's second play led to a fumble that the Red Raiders recovered at the Le Roy 39.
Hallett scored from six yards out a few plays later. Toland hooked up with Chad Pieri on the two-point
conversion. The win allowed Le Roy to erase the memory of last season's 21-0 loss to the Red Raiders.
"I haven't forgot about that," Fox said. "This was one of my goals. One down, a couple more to go."

The smile on the LeRoy senior's face however, put the message across. Fox was inside a jubilant locker room after LeRoy held off Caledonia-Mumford to win their annual football game 14-8 - played in a cold, steady rain at Hartwood Park. Cal-Mum's winning streak ended at 15 games in front of a crowd of about 2,500.

"Unbelievable," Fox said. "I've been thinking about this game since last year. Getting beat 21-0 by them last year didn't feel good. I knew it was going to be a huge game. You play as hard as you can. We made some mistakes but we won the game. That's all that matters. It was on home turf, my senior year, which makes it even more important," Fox said.

LeRoy (3-0) held a 14-0 lead with six minutes to play courtesy of two touchdown runs by Fox. The Oatkan Knights seemed in control, but two LeRoy turnovers gave life to Cal-Mum (2-1). The Red Raiders pulled within six points after a 6-yard touchdown run by Aaron Hallett and Chad Pieri's two-point conversion reception with 4:38 remaining.

Cal-Mum had two more chances to score in the final four minutes, but fumbled the first away after defensive back John Zinni fell on a loose ball inside the LeRoy 4-yard line. The last gasp for the Red Raiders ended on an incomplete pass on fourth-and-10 at the LeRoy 14.

"We're still trying to find ourselves," Cal-Mum coach Mike Monacelli said. "That stuff happens. "We stumbled around in the first half, but then we played. We had chances but it didn't happen. That's the way it works sometimes."

A relieved group after the final whistle, the Oatkan Knights turned into a screaming bunch when someone cued the team's victory music inside the locker room. Fox finished with 89 rushing yards on 21 carries. Justin Casper, a junior who filled in for injured starting tailback Mike Farabella, led LeRoy with 119 yards on 25 carries. Grandfathers, uncles and cousins in the communities have played in this game.

The rivalry dates to 1900, but it's believed to be the first time the teams have met as top-ranked teams in the state, LeRoy in Class C and Cal-Mum in D.