Cadets overpower Olympia, fall to Eagles in Section V Quarterfinals

Cadets overpower Olympia,
fall to Eagles in Section V Quarterfinals

On October 7, the Hilton Cadets Varsity Football Team traveled to Greece Olympia for their final regular season game. The Cadets and Spartans battled back and forth in the first quarter until Olympia's quarterback, Joe LaCarte, crossed the goal line on a one-yard run with 2:54 left in the quarter. The ensuing kickoff was returned by Hilton's Bret Clark to the 35-yard line. With the first quarter winding down, Hilton quarterback Alex Coffey took control with a pitch to Jeff Delong for a first down, and then a QB keeper that Coffey ran to the 27-yard line. On the third play of the drive, a long run by Joe Rotella was called back for holding setting up second down on the 44 yard line. With 1.1 seconds left in the first quarter, Coffey handed off to Delong who ran it in for Hilton's first touchdown tying the score 7-7.

On the first drive of the second quarter, Greece Olympia fumbled and the ball was recovered by Hilton, setting up a 28-yard touchdown pass to Clark by Coffey, taking the lead 14-7 with 11:46 left in the half. With 6:30 left in the half, Coffey handed off to Delong who scored his second touchdown on a 14-yard run. Deep in their own territory, Greece Olympia turned over the ball again on their own 18-yard line and Hilton recovered. Coffey and the Hilton offense wasted no time as Coffey came back on the field and hit Scott Allis for a 19-yard touchdown pass with 6:10 left in the half. Greece Olympia's first-half struggles continued when Hilton's Eli Towner intercepted a pass on the 20-yard line. Short yardage gains by Coffey and Delong set up third-and-two; Coffey stepped back and hit Allis for a 21-yard touchdown pass to take a commanding lead 34-7 with 2:57 in the half.

Midway through the third quarter, Olympia's Thomas Kenney crossed the goal line on a 16-yard run. On the first play from scrimmage, Coffey handed off to Delong who went 65-yards to the end zone. Coffey connected with Allis for the two-point conversion. Greece Olympia scored one final touchdown with 8:45 in the fourth quarter on a one-yard run by Dominic Caito. The final score, Hilton 42 - Greece Olympia 21.

Hilton senior Delong scored three touchdowns and rushed for 234 yards. Senior Allis had two touchdowns. Delong was named Section V Class AA Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts.

Ranked number 5 in the Section V seeds, the Hilton Cadets traveled to fourth-seeded Irondequoit on Friday, October 13. Despite several strong offensive drives, the Cadets' offense was unable to cross the goal line. Defensively, the Cadets held the Eagles scoreless until 1:17 left in the half when wide receiver Andrew Goodlein caught a pitch from quarterback Phil Cleary and completed a 56-yard pass to Jon Yioulos to take the lead. With one minute remaining in the half, Hilton quarterback Coffey led the Cadets down the field to the 44-yard line and with 11.9 seconds in the half, Coffey was sacked to end the half.

The third and fourth quarters were a scoreless battle with neither team able to add any points to the scoreboard. With 1:54 left in the game, Irondequoit's quarterback Cleary crossed the goal line on a seven-yard run. Hilton's Clark ran the ensuing kick off back for a touchdown, but the score was called back on a roughing the kicker penalty. Showing they weren't giving up, Hilton's defense forced Irondequoit to punt on fourth down. Hilton's Rotella returned the punt for 31 yards to end the game. Irondequoit (6-1) advanced to the Sectional Semi-finals to play top-seeded Churchville-Chili and Hilton hosted East High School on Friday, October 20.