HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
Orchard Park is one win away from perfection
They started in Orchard Park Little Loop Football and at the Boys and Girls Club on South Lincoln Avenue. They continued through one of Western New York’s strongest athletic departments to perhaps its most dominant football program.
This year’s Orchard Park football team has been at it for a long time.
“I’ve been working with Jeff [Tundo], Cameron [Hicks], Kyle [Hoppy] and others since we were in seventh-eighth grade,” said hard-hitting senior linebacker/fullback Brandon Nuessle. “We’ve been playing since we were 9 years old. We started working out at the Boys and Girls Club, just getting ready for this. This is what we dream of. I can’t describe it any better than that. I can’t wait.”
The wait ends Sunday at 1 p. m. at Syracuse University’s Carrier Dome, when Orchard Park will try to win its first state championship in its first state final.
After the Quakers’ semifinal win last Saturday, several players provided unprompted quotes about how coaches have told them they could be the best Orchard Park team ever.
In order to prove that, OP (12-0) will have to beat a school which knows its way around the Carrier Dome in Monroe- Woodbury (11-0) of Section IX.
This is the black-and-purple Crusaders’ fourth straight trip to the Dome, which includes a state championship in 2005. It beat Webster Thomas, 32-10, in 2005 before losing to Auburn (27-26 in overtime) in 2006 and to West Genesee (42-21) last year. Orchard Park lost last year’s semifinals, 30-27, to West Genesee.
It has been that loss that has fueled OP to this point, and they have had a litany of contributions.
The offense starts with Tundo, last year’s Connolly Cup winner who has rushed for 10 touchdowns and 539 yards in his last three games. Quarterback Hoppy delivered clutch passes and runs in OP’s stellar second half against Binghamton, hitting four different receivers in a 9-for-13 passing day. Junior Joseph Boyd (6-foot-1, 256 pounds) was part of an offensive line lauded by Tundo.
The last three games have been decided with standout drives and stops in the third quarter by OP. The defense has received great impact from senior ends Nathan Longbine (5-11, 195) and Robert Kugler (6-3, 215), linebackers Gary Davies (5-11, 210 junior), Dave Michael (6-1, 181 senior) and Nuessle (6-1, 210) and senior defensive backs Kyle Perla (5-10, 150) and David Goltz (6-0, 165).
Senior linebacker Hicks (6-0, 185) got a hand on three of Binghamton’s punts, including a crucial block that set up Orchard Park with a first-and-goal in the third quarter.
Monroe-Woodbury’s record is 11-0 because it received a bye into the state playoffs (due to an uneven number of sections on the eastern half of the state, the bye rotates each year).
The Crusaders’ spread offense has quarterback Dan Scalo as its point man, as he has rushed 192 times for 1,322 yards and 16 touchdowns. He’s completed 43 of 91 passes for 918 yards and eight scores. Wide receiver/ defensive back D. J. Young (6-1, 180) has committed to the Mid-American Conference’s Eastern Michigan. Andrew Tolosi and Trevor Officer are also running threats.
The Crusaders also have a lethal kicking weapon in Central Florida-bound Jamie Boyle. Boyle’s 35-yard field goal tied a state record for most in a season (12) and gave Monroe- Woodbury the go-ahead points in the fourth quarter of its 10-8 semifinal victory over New Rochelle. That was Monroe-Woodbury’s third straight postseason win over New Rochelle.
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