By Mike Wertman<br><a href="mailto:mike.wertman@journal-register.com">E-mail Mike</a>
The Journal-Register
June 29, 2009 04:43 pm
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Ignited by two huge 70 yard plus first quarter touchdown plays, the Lyndonville Tigers roared to a 35-6 victory over the Buffalo Gladiators Saturday in a Northeast Football Alliance game at old U.B. Stadium.
Ricky McVay scored on an 82-yard pass play from quarterback Donnell Holloway and on an electrifying 75-yard punt return to propel Lyndonville out to a 13-0 lead in the first 10 minutes and the Tigers were never headed.
“Ricky’s back,” exclaimed Tigers owner/offensive coach Harold Suhr. “That’s the old Ricky.”
However, it was the Tigers defensive unit, which registered its second straight shutout, that provided the first big play of the night with an interception by Mike Manicki in the Lyndonville end zone stopping the Gladiator’s game opening drive.
“I think that took it out of them,” Lyndonville defensive coach Sony Dent said. “That was the biggest play of the game.”
Keeping the momentum, the Lyndonville offense then struck like lighting as McVay took a short pass in the flat from Holloway, turned up field and sprinted 82 yards down the sideline for a touchdown.
Just over three minutes later McVay turned in an even more spectacular scoring play. Fielding a punt at about his own 25, he zig-zagged back and forth across the field picking up timely blocks along the way then turning up the field to compete a 75-yard touchdown.
“I just kept following the blocks and getting away from everybody,” McVay said.
John Gorom added the extra point kick and later upped the Lyndonville lead to 16-0 with a 23-yard field goal late in the second quarter.
Pass completions by Holloway of 16 yards to Kevin Dukes and of 39 yards to Jon Oakes set up that scoring opportunity.
“Donnell is definitely coming of age as a quarterback,” Suhr said. “He’s got great receivers to throw to and he’s standing in there and reading the defenses real well. He’s got a good arm and he can run when he has to.”
The Tigers then broke the game wide open with two unanswered third quarter touchdowns to race away to a commanding 28-0 advantage.
First, Holloway scored on a one-yard run and then he threw a 41-yard TD strike to Dukes before the quarter was five minutes old.
A scrambling 37-yard pickup by Holloway and a 25-yard pass completion to McVay set up the first score while a fumble recovery by Manicki at the Buffalo 41 set up the second.
“I’m definitely getting more comfortable in the position. I can see the defenses better and know what receivers should be open,” Holloway said. “I think we can do something special this season, The defense is playing great and the offense is really coming along.”
The Gladiators finally got on the scoreboard early in the fourth quarter returning a Tigers fumble 17 yards for a touchdown.
However, Lyndonville got that one right back three minutes later when Holloway hooked up with McVay who made an outstanding leaping catch in the end zone against a Gladiator defender to complete a 33-yard touchdown play with 10:33 remaining.
Gorom again added the PAT kick to make it 35-6.
“We’re pretty much hitting on all cylinders offensively,” Suhr said. “And defensively we‘ve got a lot of very good athletes. We are playing as a team.”
The Tigers defense also saw Manicki get his second interception of the night and fifth in two games early in the fourth quarter and Jason Hannah stop one Gladiators third quarter scoring threat by breaking up a fourth down pass in the end zone and another in the fourth quarter by making an interception.
“Defensively we were missing a couple of players tonight but the other guys stepped right in and stepped it up,” defensive coach Jim Bresett said. “That’s the sign of a good team.”
Now at 2-0, Lyndonville next hosts the Southern Tier Diesel at 7:30 p.m. July 10 at Roy-Hart.
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