Hilton opened the third quarter with a five play, 66 yard drive to take a 20-17 lead, but Pittsford scored the final three touchdowns of the game to send the Cadets to their first loss of the season 37-20.
Pittsford opened the game with a ten play drive ended when Hilton’s Tyler Dalle broke a fourth down pass attempt in the end zone.
The Panthers took a 7-0 lead on the second possession, but the Cadets answered with a 16-play scoring drive that included two third down and two fourth down conversions capped by a one-yard touchdown run by senior Kyle Napier. The Christian Ranke extra point tied the game 7-7.
The two teams each scored the next time they had the ball with the Cadets touchdown a 53 yard pass from quarterback Johnathan Letta to Napier to make it 14-13 Panthers. It became 17-13 with a 20-yard field goal on the final play of the first half.
Hilton took the second half kickoff down the field highlighted by a 56-yard first down right tackle trap run by Napier and finished by his two-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-goal from the two yard line. Ranke’s extra point put the Cadets up 20-17.
After Pittsford retook the lead 24-20, the next Cadets drive was halted by a fumble, but Hilton’s Joseph Lipani intercepted a pass on the final play of the third quarter to end the next Panthers drive after an apparent touchdown was called back due to a holding penalty.
But the Hilton offense stalled with three-and-outs on their next three possessions while Pittsford scored two touchdowns to put the game out of reach.
“We were there, but that fumble hurt us bad with the chance to take the lead,” Hilton head coach Rich Lipani said. “I couldn’t be prouder of our guys; Pittsford is by far and away the best team we’ve played this year … and now we have to show more maturity and bounce back next week.”
Napier finished with 117 yards rushing on 17 carries and two touchdowns and led the 4-1 Cadets with seven tackles. Joseph Sach, Michael Spallina and Letta also had seven tackles on defense with Dalle adding six. The Panthers rushed for 475 yards in the contest on 52 carries.
