Published: October 18, 2009 12:11 am      

HS FOOTBALL: NFHS tames Lions

LOCKPORT — Dale Stewart confused and bewildered the Lockport Lions for four quarters on Saturday, figuring in on all three touchdowns in a 21-14 Class AA North football victory at Max D. Lederer Field.

The cagey Niagara Falls junior quarterback threw for one score, ran for another, then capped his memorable day off with an 80-yard kickoff return that made the difference in a close, sloppy game.

“Dale’s an outstanding athlete. When he gets going, he’s hard to slow down. I thought he managed the game very well for us today,” said Wolverines coach Don Bass, whose team improved to 3-2 in AA North and 4-3 overall.

“This was huge. Our playoff situation will depend on what other teams do today, but the fact that we beat a good football team today is significant.”

The Niagara Falls win set up an interesting scenario in Class AA North, where three teams — Lockport, Niagara Falls and Williamsville North — all finished with 3-2 records. After a point-differential tiebreaker, though, it was determined by the section that Lockport will be the No. 2 seed, the Falls will be fourth and North will be third. The seedings for the Falls and North were determined by a head-to-head tiebreaker, which North won.

Lockport will host Jamestown at 2 p.m. Saturday, while the Falls will travel to Lancaster at 7 p.m. Friday and North wil visit defending state champion Orchard Park at the same time.

Niagara Falls opened the scoring Saturday with a 10-play, 65-yard first-quarter drive that was capped by Stewart’s Keystone Kops-like scramble and 38-yard desperation pass to senior co-captain Darryl Smith. Stewart (10-of-15 passing, 218 yards, TD; 13 rushes, 36 yards, TD) threw a similar, 19-yard, third-down pass to Smith, rolling to his left, earlier in the drive.

Led by senior running back David Fluellen (36 carries, 196 yards, 1 TD), the Lions (3-2 AA North, 4-3 overall) drove from their own 35 down to the Wolverines’ six, but fumbled the ball away.

That gave NFHS just enough time to make it 15-0 before the end of the first quarter, as Stewart capped a seven-play, 79-yard drive with a 22-yard, fourth-and-seven TD run as the clock expired.

The drive also featured a 45-yard Stewart special to Smith (8 catches, 165 yards, TD) and an 11-yard Stewart scramble for a first down.

“If I get the time, he (Smith) finds a way to get open,” Stewart said. “This was a big win. Everyone was down on the Wolverines, but not anymore. We came together and played as a team.”

The Lions cut the visitors’ lead to 15-7 with a 10-play, 78-yard drive capped by a Fluellen 15-yard TD run with 4:40 left in the third quarter.

But Stewart answered 11 seconds later with a spectacular 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown that gave the Wolverines a 21-7 lead and silenced the vocal Lions crowd.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Lockport took advantage of John Glaser’s fumble recovery at the NFHS 17 when junior quarterback Kevin Bronson tossed a 14-yard TD pass to tight end Luke Rankie, cutting the Falls’ lead to 21-14.

The visitors were driving for still another score inside the LHS 10, but Lockport’s James Renford recovered a fumble to save the day temporarily. The Lions drove to midfield, where their drive stalled and they were forced to punt with 2:45 left in the game.

The Wolverines somehow overcame disaster at the end as punter Danny Swiatkowski was tackled by Sean Mulvey at the 10 with 1:43 to go.

That’s when the Wolverines’ “D” stepped up, stopping Fluellen on three straight plays. On fourth and goal at the 2, Fluellen ran left and into the endzone, but the play was called back on an obvious hold.

A final, fourth-and-goal pass from the 12 fell incomplete and the road victory was complete for NFHS.

“You learn more from a close loss than by a lopsided one,” said Lions coach Greg Bronson. “Clearly, this one was about turnovers. We turned the ball over too many times and took too many unnecessary penalties. We had nine penalties and four of them went for 15 yards.”