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LE ROY
- A school record-breaking performance by senior tailback Tommy McQuillen
and an opportunistic defense that converted two interceptions into touchdowns
powered the Le Roy Oatkan Knights to a 48-35 non-league football victory
over Batavia Friday night before about 1,000 fans at Hartwood Park.
McQuillen ran the ball 35 times for 325 yards - eclipsing the Le Roy
record of 314 set by Jason Ausher in 1991 - and scored six touchdowns
as the Knights evened their record to 2-2 in a game played in a light,
but steady drizzle.
The rain had little effect on McQuillen, who consistently burst through
big holes on the line of scrimmage and used his speed and downfield
moves to thwart the Blue Devils, 1-3. The 5-10, 160-pounder opened the
scoring midway through the first quarter with an eight-yard scamper
off left tackle and put the finishing touches on the Knights' effort
by taking a pitchout 36 yards with 3:02 left in the game.
In between, he ran up the middle for a 23-yard score late in the second
quarter to give Le Roy a 14-7 lead, sped around the left side for a
38-yard TD run to break a 14-14 tie early in the third quarter, scored
on another eight-yard run with 4:16 remaining in the third quarter,
and darted through a gaping hole up the middle for a 52-yard TD run
that gave Le Roy a 42-21 advantage with 8:18 left to play.
"I owe it to the line," said McQuillen, crediting the job
done by guards Archie Cappotelli and Jake Risewick, tackles Jayce Seeley
and Jarred Resch, center Kody Lamkin and tight end Marcus Mistersaro.
"I just got to the outside and go … like a fuse. It was a
dream game. The blocking was fantastic tonight."
While Le Roy put up some lofty numbers on offense - quarterback Andy
Lowe was 5-for-6 for 63 yards and a TD to tight end Mistersaro and Dylan
Johnson rushed for 43 yards on 11 carries - it needed some big plays
on the other side of the ball to hold off the Blue Devils.
Batavia came back twice to tie the score, countering Le Roy's opening
TD with a 14-play, 64-yard drive capped by a perfectly-placed 12-yard
pass from QB Brett Scheuerlein to wideout Zack Anchor and then knotting
things up at 14-14 early in the third quarter on a 15-yard run by fullback
James Soggs.
Soggs rushed 16 times for 138 yards, with 68 of those yards coming on
two runs in the closing minutes that set up a seven-yard TD pass from
Scheuerlein to John DiFante, who made a leaping catch in the corner
of the end zone.
Scheuerlein was 6-for-17 passing for 125 yards and three touchdowns.
He also was picked off three times and Le Roy was able to capitalize
immediately on two of those interceptions.
McQuillen intercepted a pass in the second quarter and then scored his
second touchdown five plays later to make it 14-7. Ethan Olsowski picked
off a pass at the Le Roy 23 after Mistersaro pressured the Batavia quarterback,
halting an impressive Blue Devil drive, and added his second interception
in the fourth quarter to set up McQuillen's 52-yard touchdown run on
the ensuing play.
On defense, linebackers Tommy Kelso and Archie Cappotelli were credited
with 13 and 10 tackles, respectively, for Le Roy. Batavia's defense
was led by Soggs and Matt Guiste each with 10 tackles. Both coaches
pointed to the play of Le Roy's offensive line as a key to the outcome.
"The offensive line played extremely well tonight," Le Roy
coach Brian Moran said. "The whole team played hard; we've got
some things we can improve on, but the enthusiasm was there."
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