It didn't take long for the shocker of the high school football season to present itself, and it came courtesy of a bunch of big plays by Kenmore West's dynamic backfield duo of Martin Bailey and Marcus Lobdell.

The Blue Devils scored three times on plays of at least 46 yards and their defense shackled defending New York State Class AA champion North Tonawanda, 30-22, at the Lumberjacks Sports Complex.

Lobdell hooked up with Bailey on a 53-yard TD pass, while Bailey also ran for TDs of 46 and 53 yards as Kenmore West, which didn't make the playoffs last year, ended the Lumberjacks' 13-game winning streak in stunning fashion.

"The kids were fired up. They knew what they were up against," West coach Rich Harris said. "The kids jumped on them and never looked back."

Ken West limited NT to 152 yards in total offense, including 100 on the ground, and forced five turnovers. Nick Hersey led the winners with 12 tackles and a forced fumble.

"Whenever you hold NT to 100 yards rushing you're doing something right," Harris said.

Lobdell threw for 131 yards and scored on a 4-yard run, and Bailey rushed nine times for 123 yards as the Blue Devils finished with 301 yards and burned NT's blitzing tactics on their long scoring plays.

"NT was pressing the line of scrimmage," Harris said. "These guys [Bailey and Lobdell] are fast. Once they pushed through they were in the secondary. It seemed like their game plan was to blitz us and disorient us. At times they did but when we got into the secondary there was nobody left [to stop us]."

Niagara Falls 9, Riverside 2: The Wolverines spoiled the Frontiers' debut with a 9-2 win in a Class AA North game at Riverside's new field.

Riverside took a 2-0 lead after the first quarter, scoring on a safety when a center snap went over the head of the Niagara Falls quarterback.

Niagara Falls opened the second half in a big way as Quandry Gray returned the kickoff 80 yards. Carleton Gayle kicked the extra point. The Wolverines added a safety later in the quarter on an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone.

The loss snapped Riverside's nine-game winning streak. Legendary Riverside coach Charlie Dingboom was in the crowd. Before the game he was presented with a jersey by players from his 1972 team.

Clarence 37, Iroquois 12: The Red Devils rode a big first half to a win as night football made its debut in Clarence. The Red Devils scored 14 points in each of the first two quarters to grab the momentum in the nonleague contest. Cooper Wittig scored two rushing TDs in the first half. QB Zach Lauricella was 11 of 25 for 151 yards and found Billy Fitzhenry twice for TDs. Michael Gelz rushed for 114 yards on 17 attempts.

Clarence coach Tom Goddard said he'd like to make night football a happening in the community.

"This has been a long time coming. It's something the kids are going to remember for the rest of their lives," he said. "It was a great feeling, the kids feel important now. Hopefully people will talk about the game and how it was a good atmosphere and people can bring their young kids out."

Williamsville South 50, Lake Shore 14: Returning All-Western New York quarterback Joe Licata picked up where he left off following a record-setting 2009 season. Licata opened the new season for the Billies with a 48-yard TD pass to Phil Stasiak and finished with five touchdowns and 269 yards on 16-for-28 passing in this Class A South battle. Kevin O'Connell caught eight passes for 93 yards and grabbed a two-point conversion pass for the winners. John Castronova led the Billes' defense with eight tackles. Alex Seward had seven.

Hamburg 24, Lafayette 16: Ryan Preziosi led the Bulldogs with 98 yards on 19 carries and Hamburg quarterback Mike Coyne went 13 of 23 for 135 yards as Hamburg spoiled Lafayette's Section VI Federation debut in Class A South. Lafayette led, 8-6, entering the fourth quarter, but Hamburg scored three straight times, on a 6-yard run by Mike Davison and two TD runs by Preziosi. Lafayette's Cameron Tucker had five catches for 110 yards and two touchdowns.

Depew 25, East 6: Josh Wiechelt led the Wildcats' defensive effort with nine tackles and Joe Miller had three touchdown runs in a Class B Central contest. Matthew Mann recovered a fumble in the end zone for a defensive touchdown for Depew.

Alden 41, Tonawanda 0: Dakota Peel caught a pair of 34-yard TD passes from Tyler Stoldt and added a rushing TD for the Bulldogs in a Class B North win. Peel rushed for 103 yards and had 82 yards in receptions. Stoldt was 10 of 12 for 183 yards and three TDs. Ryan Sasnowski and Alcides King had interceptions to lead a defense that held the Warriors to 99 yards.

Pioneer 35, Springville 0: Senior running back Phil Asquith rushed 14 times for 181 yards in the Panthers' Class B South win. Scott Fisher tossed three touchdown passes to Brandon Schwan, while Tony Lock made 12 tackles in the win, including three for loss. Pioneer kicker Tyler Wiedmann booted three extra points.

Orchard Park 27, Lancaster 10: Okaya Anderson returned an interception 59 yards with three minutes left as the Quarkers turned back last year's Class AA South champs. Anderson also did some damage carrying the ball with 135 yards rushing, including a 17-yard TD. Defensively, Anderson had three of his team's six sacks. OP also recorded three interceptions. Senior QB Kyle Witkowski was 13 of 25 for 140 yards and a TD.

Silver Creek 33, Maple Grove 7: Senior Zach Williams erupted for 237 yards on 28 carries and scored four TDs as the Black Knights won big in Class D West. Maple Grove jumped out to an early lead on John Nickerson's 3-yard run. Williams answered on a 16-yard run to tie the game, 7-7, after the first quarter. Silver Creek scored the next 26 points. Larry Kaminsky converted three extra-point attempts, while Andrew Lanphere added a 12-yard run.

Portville 41, Franklinville 8: Trent Unverdorben rushed for 180 yards on 17 carries and scored three touchdowns in the Class D East contest. Zach Piler added touchdown runs of 35 and 51 yards.

Frontier 13, Jamestown 0: Justin Liberta led the defensive effort with 10 tackles as the Falcons earned the shutout in Class AA South. Frontier racked up 250 total yards of offense, scoring twice in the fourth quarter on a 3-yard TD run by Jimmy May and a 19-yarder by Tony Mecozzi.

Amherst 25, West Seneca East 6: The Tigers' defense scored on a pair of interception returns to help win the Class A South home opener. After a scoreless first half, Conrad Pearson grabbed the momentum for the Tigers as he scored on a 25-yard interception return. Keeon Colvin had the other interception return for a score as he picked off a pass from his defensive end position and ran it in from 24 yards out.

Colvin had a big game on offense as well, rushing for 124 yards on 26 carries and scoring on a 1-yard TD run.

Sophomore quarterback Justin Twarog, in just his second varsity start, was 11 of 21 for 133 yards and a TD. Junior LB Marquis Artis led in tackles with eight.

The Trojans' TD came in the third quarter when Andy Smigiera and QB Zack Guzda hooked up on a 70-yard TD.

Lackawanna 44, East Aurora 20: The visiting Steelers rushed for more than 400 yards in an important Class B South win. John Brown led the Lackawanna ground game with 15 carries for 147 yards and two touchdowns. Keith Taggart added 129 yards on nine carries and a TD, while Christian Smith had 127 yards on 10 carries with two TDs. Smith also made 15 tackles on defense.

Southwestern 41, Falconer 13: The Trojans extended two streaks running their overall win streak to 30 games and beating the rival Falcons for the 14th straight time in a series that started in 1927. Jake Swan opened the scoring with a 65-yard punt return to highlight a 20-point first quarter. Johnny Mistretta rushed for 119 yards on 14 carries and a TD. Nick Austin had four catches for 129 yards and David Tapia led the defense with 15 tackles.

"We've got some work to do," said Southwestern coach Jay Sirianni. "We jumped out on top, but then got a little complacent. We got young kids, it's the first varsity games for a lot of them. We need to learn to play for 48 minutes."

Grover Cleveland 40, Wilson 18: Chris Holland threw for 157 yards and two scores and added 85 yards rushing for the Presidents. Wilson QB Joe Parrott threw for 302 yards and three scores.

Cleveland Hill 42, Maryvale 12: Junior Daryl Spencer made his first varsity start a memorable one, rushing for 196 yards on 13 carries, scoring four touchdowns and throwing another as the Golden Eagles won a nonleague rivalry game. Corey Davis added 172 yards on just eight carries for Cleveland Hill. Blair Estarfaa threw for a touchdown and rushed for another for the Flyers.

Cheektowaga 36, South Park 8: A 22-point third quarter helped the Warriors put away the Sparks in Class B Central. Rashad Thomas started the run for the Warriors with a 60-yard touchdown run. That was followed by a 2-yard score by Jake Petroski and a 1-yard plunge by Denzel Floyd. Dante Perry had seven tackles and three pass breakups for the Warriors, while Dante Burnett had nine tackles and a sack.

V-Aquinas 48, St. Joe's 21: The Marauders were slowed by four turnovers in a road loss. Nick Hall scored on an 8-yard run to give St. Joe's a short-lived 7-0 lead after the first quarter. Aquinas took advantage of three St. Joe's turnovers in the second quarter to score 28 points. "We hit the wall a little bit. We were a minus three [turnovers] for the game and that was certainly reflected in the score," said Dennis Gilbert, who was making his debut as St. Joe's coach.

Brandon Robinson had a big game at strong safety with nine tackles. QB Chad Kelly was 13 of 23 for 165 yards, one TD and three interceptions.

Coaching movement

As teams kick off this weekend, there are some changes on area sidelines.

Bob O'Connor, who stepped down after 29 years as St. Joe's coach, is the offensive coordinator at Bennett. "It's different, but kids are kids, players are players. I'm having a ball coaching them," said O'Connor.

Former Buffalo State head coach Paul Shaffner, a 1978 Lancaster graduate, has joined the Redskins staff as an assistant.

Longtime Pine Valley coach Bob Krenzer, along with his son Andy, are helping at Sherman/Ripley.

Legendary Riverside coach Charlie Dingboom is working with the freshmen team at Nichols.

Trench Trophy suffers losses

The Trench Trophy will be operating with a heavy heart following the offseason deaths of two of its charter members since 2003. The Trench Trophy award is presented annually to the top lineman among Western New York's 80-plus high school football teams.

Tom Terhart died July 26 of an apparent heart attack after a day of kayaking. "Tom has been a great friend for 40 years and was a great man," said co-founder Carl Kuras. "He was a great advocate of high school sports and enjoyed donating time, money, and effort to kids."

John Gebhardt died unexpectedly on Dec. 10, 2009, also from an apparent heart attack. Proceeds from this summer's Trench Trophy's annual golf tournament were donated to the John Gebhardt Memorial Scholarship.

Today's games

Two-time defending Class A state champion Sweet Home looks to extend its winning streak to 27 games when it hosts Kenmore East at 2 p.m. The Panthers were ranked the No.‚1 team in the state in a preseason poll by PrepNation.com.

Three more city schools make their Section VI debuts when Hutch-Tech plays Williamsville North at Riverside in Class AA North, Bennett battles West Seneca West in Class AA South at All High Stadium and McKinley visits Williamsville East in Class A North play.

Also in that division, Niagara-Wheatfield -- which has moved down from Class AA North -- takes on rival Grand Island.

In the Monsignor Martin Association, small schools champion Cardinal O'Hara visits large schools champion Canisius.

In nonleague games, neighbors Lockport and Starpoint resume their rivalry, while St. Francis travels to Union-Endicott, which has won four Section IV (Binghamton area) Class AA titles in the past five seasons.

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