Cheektowaga's on the mark in winning its first title
There is a spot on the wall of the Cheektowaga football locker room wall that honors sectional championships.
The Warriors had nothing to put in that spot — until Saturday.
A big first half — and a resilient second — lifted Cheektowaga to its first Section VI football championship as it beat Alden, 27-13, in the Class B final before an estimated 2,000 at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
"We have these big metal boards that are in our locker room — we put state champs, sectional champs and division champs," said eighth-year Cheektowaga coach Scott Zipp. "There were zero sectional champs, and now they're on there. I'm overjoyed for our kids."
Cheektowaga (10-0), ranked second among Western New York small schools for most of the season, will face Hornell (10-0) in the Far West Regionals next Saturday at noon at downtown Rochester's Marina Auto Stadium. Hornell beat Livonia, 32-7, in the Section V (Rochester area) final.
"We've been talking about this ever since December when we were pushing weights in the weight room," said senior fullback Julius Davis, who ran for 97 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. "We just had to play Warrior football."
Davis, a bruising, 6-foot, 225-pounder, had a 46-yard touchdown in the first half as Cheektowaga took a 19-0 halftime lead. Of the Warriors 322 yards, 287 came on 37 carries thanks to the running of Davis, the ultra-quick bursts of senior Earl Turner (13 carries, 90 yards, two touchdowns) and the multitasking of senior Nick McLean (five carries, 85 yards; interception on defense). McLean had a 72-yard run five minutes into the game.
Alden made it a 19-13 game after driving for two touchdowns in the third quarter behind junior quarterback Tyler Stoldt and junior back Dakota Peel (all 117 of his rushing yards on 13 second-half carries). Stoldt completed 10 of 19 passes for 64 yards and also had several key runs.
"In the first half we didn't really come out of the tunnel and play hard — we kind of got knocked around off the ball a little bit," said Alden coach Dick Diminuco. "I don't know if the kids were in awe or whatever. I give the kids credit, in the second half they really played better and a lot harder. Tyler is a great leader, and you saw it in the second half."
Alden advanced to the Cheektowaga 32 in the fourth quarter, but a nice defensive play by senior Keith Bykowski on a screen pass and a sack by a host of Warriors (one of the team's eight sacks) forced Alden's second punt of the quarter. Cheektowaga got the ball back with 4:29 left and Turner had some huge runs in a seven-play, 80-yard drive.
The 5-9, 155-pound Turner had a 32-yard run to move deep into Alden territory. On third-and-5 at the Alden 6, Turner took a handoff and bolted to the right side to win a footrace to the pylon for a touchdown and 1:39 to play.
"That's my favorite play," said Turner. "Once I get a McLean block, it's all me."
"These 35 kids play hard all the time," said Zipp. "They work hard and they overcome adversity, just like today."
If Cheektowaga can beat Hornell, they'll take another step towards filling another blank spot on that locker room wall.
"The state champs part is obviously blank, but we told them to keep climbing that wall," Zipp said. "The sky's the limit. We have a good group of kids that work hard. We couldn't be prouder."
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