ALMEDIA – Facing a Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech team that had scored just 28 combined points during a current three-game losing streak, Sayre could have easily overlooked the Rams while looking ahead to next week’s matchup with undefeated Canton. Throw in a two-hour bus ride and near 90-degree heat, and those were ingredients for the classic trap-game.
But the Redskins would not be trapped, as they came out and overcame those challenges and made sure they didn’t look ahead to Week 7 until Week 6 was completed and topped CMVT 42-0.
The win sets up a matchup next Friday between the two top-ranked teams in District 4 Class A, one that will likely have major implications in playoff seeding.
“Every team we play, I tell them there’s a chance we could have a really good game or if you let a team like CMVT stick around, the more confidence they build up and that’s not good,” said Sayre coach Kevin Gorman. “I told our guys that we needed to come out fast and jump on them quick so I’m glad they did that.
“They know what next week is, so keeping their heads focused on this week can be tough but I thought they did a good job of that and came out ready to play.”
CMVT, meanwhile, dropped its fourth straight game after winning its first two as it continues to try to find solutions and stay in the hunt for a District 4 4A playoff berth.
“We had some gap responsibility issues defensively,” said CMVT coach Mark Varner. “We just need to maintain better gap integrity, but Sayre’s a good team. They’re 5-1 for a reason.
“They get a couple of plays up the middle and then our outside linebackers want to cheat in and help, but they can’t do that because the next thing you know, the quarterback pulls it, runs the read and he’s outside. We just have to do our job, maintain gap integrity and we can’t help and that’s a tough thing to teach a kid.”
It was a balanced attack all day for the Redskins, as their six touchdowns were scored by six different individuals. Quarterback Brayden Horton threw for a pair of touchdowns and 132 yards on 7-of-9 passing, and the Sayre ground attack produced 248 rushing yards, though not a single player reached the century mark.
Sayre’s defense also played well, holding the Rams to just 156 yards of offense and also picking off a pair of passes as both Dylan Watkins and Zack Garrity had interceptions. CMVT ran just 11 of its 36 first-half plays from Sayre territory, and none from closer than the Sayre 29.
“We have a couple of different defensive sets where we’re almost running a four-man front so that helped with some of their big backs and they can be tough to stop coming around the outside, which they did a couple of times, so it was nice to see our defense who up,” said Gorman.
By contrast, the Redskins found the end zone each time it had the ball in the first half. They got things started after receiving the opening kickoff by putting together a relatively brief six-play, 65-yard drive that took just 1:52 and was capped by a 23-yard touchdown pass from Horton to Corbin Brown, who leaped right in front of the CMVT defensive back to take away what looked to be a potential interception.
After a CMVT punt from midfield, Sayre took its second possession beginning at its own 19 and proceeded to put together a nine-play drive that took only 3:10 and ended with another touchdown pass by Horton, this one 24 yards to Zach Watkins.
The Rams punted again on their ensuing possession to end the first quarter, which gave Sayre the ball at its own 49. On Sayre’s second play, Horton managed to dodge several CMVT defenders as he zig-zagged down the field for a 47-yard touchdown run.
The Redskins against started deep in their own end of the field on their next drive following a penalty on the punt return, but this time only needed four plays to go 84 yards to make it 28-0 with 6:26 left in the half. Horton hit Watkins for a 35-yard completion, Isaiah Firestine had a 20-yard run, and Jacob Bennett finished with a 27-yard touchdown run.
A CMVT four-and-out then gave Sayre the ball on the CMVT 40 and the Redskins would need just five plays to make it 35-0 on Firestine’s three-yard run with 3:29 before halftime.
“Our offense played a really good first half and then we pulled some guys to get some rest and give our younger guys some reps,” said Gorman. “I thought Brayden did a better job this week of pulling the ball. That has to be part of our offense otherwise the defense will just crash on Isaiah, Jake and David so that’s something we harped on.”
With a running clock and the second-string seeing most of the action in the second half, Sayre tacked on another touchdown midway through the fourth quarter as Garrity added to his interception with a four-yard touchdown run.
Sayre 42, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 0
Sayre (5-1) 14 21 0 7 – 42
Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech (2-4) 0 0 0 0 – 0
First quarter
10:08 – (S) Corbin Brown 23-yard pass from Brayden Horton (Nic Bentley kick), 6-65, 1:52
2:44 – (S) Zach Watkins 24-yard pass from Brayden Horton (Bentley kick), 9-81, 3:10
Second quarter
11:11 – (S) Brayden Horton 47-yard run (Bentley kick), 2-51, :49
6:26 – (S) Jacob Bennett (Bentley kick), 4-84, 1:14
3:29 – (S) Isaiah Firestine 3-yard run (Bentley kick), 5-40, 1:12
Fourth quarter
7:20 – (S) Zack Garrity 4-yard run (Bentley kick), 6-26, 3:34
Statistics
S VT
First downs 19 8
Rushes-net yards 31-248 35-98
Passing yardage 132 58
Passing 7-11-2-0 4-13-0-2
Fumbles-lost 1-0 3-0
Penalties-yards 4-30 5-28
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Sayre: Isaiah Firestine (9-86-1), Zach Garrity (5-6-1), Brayden Horton (4-72-1), Jacob Bennett (4-46-1), Lucas Horton (4-27), Glenn Romberger (3-7), David Northrup (2-4); CMVT: Mekhi Mundrick (16-66), Seth Shoemaker (16-33), Caleb Dawson (3-(-1))
PASSING: Sayre: Brayden Horton (7-9-132-2-0), Isaiah Firestine (0-1-0-0-0), Lucas Horton (0-1-0-0-0); CMVT: Caleb Dawson (4-13-58-0-2)
RECEIVING: Sayre: Ethan Miller (3-33), Zach Watkins (2-59-1), Corbin Brown (1-23-1), Patrick Casterline (1-17); CMVT: Owen Reichner (2-10), Jensen McManus (1-32), Kaleb Sitler (1-16)
