East Rochester/Gananda clutches comeback win: Section V football's top performances, games from Friday

There is another block of regular season games, but it's becoming clear in Week 7 which teams are at the top of their Section V classifications.

• Batavia won a showdown Friday night at Honeoye Falls-Lima, a matchup of the area's top Class B teams that ended with the Blue Devils still undefeated.

• University Prep probably fell short of its best performance this season at Fairport, but it was good enough for the Griffins to win and remain undefeated.

• East Rochester/Gananda is more toward the middle of the Class C standings, but the Bombers are still climbing after a rally from a 20-point deficit to Penn Yan/Dundee, the No. 1 team in the class.

Check back for updates:

Section V football, Week 7: Top players, performances from Friday

Matt Bean: Livonia senior quarterback ran for two touchdowns and threw a touchdown pass while the Bulldogs defeated Palmyra-Macedon 40-8.

Elijah Bender: Dansville/Wayland-Cohocton had a whopping total of 16 tackles, including three quarterback sacks, while teammate Nate Gardner made 11 tackles during a 23-15 win over Wayne.

Mike Daniels: East Rochester/Gananda's senior running back had 20 carries for 175 yards and returned a kickoff for a touchdown to clinch a 42-34 win over Penn Yan/Dundee.

Caden Dixon: Penn Yan/Dundee's senior tight end caught four passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns during a 42-34 loss at East Rochester/Gananda.

Carter Earl: Penn Yan/Dundee's senior quarterback completed 5 of 10 passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for 49 yards, during a 42-34 loss at East Rochester/Gananda.

Bryant Van Housen: Penn Yan/Dundee's junior running back rushed 10 times for 55 yards and a touchdown during a 42-34 loss at East Rochester/Gananda.

Unique Jackson: A senior on the merged Edison team, Jackson returned a kickoff 80 yards and ran 30 yards for touchdowns during the team's loss to Pittsford. Jackson also made 11 tackles.

Jack Kearney: Livonia senior, who is listed as 215 pounds, had two rushing touchdowns as he finished with 97 yards on 17 carries during a 40-8 win over Palmyra-Macedon.

Landan McKnight: Monroe junior scored 4 touchdowns, 2 were receptions, 1 on a punt return and 1 rushing during a 64-8 win at Geneva.

Benny Merrill: Alexander senior receiver/defensive back had three touchdown receptions among his four catches for 137 yards and intercepted a pass as the Trojans defeated Midlakes 32-0.

Terrence Nichols: Monroe cornerback, an eighth-grader, returned a fumble 37 yards for a touchdown and senior defensive lineman Jayden Ferrell made seven tackles, including a sack, during their team's runaway win at Geneva.

Manny Sepulveda: East/Rochester/Gananda's senior returned an interception for a touchdown and had 86 total yards on offense during a 42-34 win over Penn Yan/Dundee.

Nick Slavick: Penn Yan/Dundee's senior had 15 carries for 79 yards and a touchdown, and caught an interception, during a 42-34 loss at East Rochester/Gananda.

Cadearrell Sneed Jr.: East Rochester/Gananda's sophomore running back had 14 carries for 155 yards and three touchdowns during a 42-34 win over Penn Yan/Dundee.

Ricky Townley: Alexander senior running back/defensive back finished with 114 rushing yards on 16 carries, intercepted a pass, made six tackles and forced a fumble during his team's shutout win over Midlakes.

Zaiden VanDurme-Blackmon: Dansville/Wayland-Cohocton junior scored one offensive touchdown and one defensive touchdown, as he intercepted two passes to help his team defeat Wayne 23-15. He also had four tackles.

Kyle Weterrings: Livonia junior running back had 83 rushing yards with a touchdown on 11 carries to help the Bulldogs pile up 385 yards of offense and defeat Palmyra-Macedon 40-8. Kris Amadeo and Wetterings also intercepted a pass.

Nahzier Wilson: Monroe linebacker/running back had three touchdown runs, as he went on to finish with 165 yards on 11 carries, made 16 tackles and recovered a fumble during a 64-8 win by the Red Jackets over Geneva.

Batavia 35, Honeoye Falls-Lima 20

It didn’t take long for Batavia to announce its arrival and that left Honeoye Falls-Lima chasing a lead for an entire game. And the No. 21 Cougars (5-2) certainly threatened, but couldn’t quite overtake the No. 8 Blue Devils (7-0) in a matchup of two state-ranked teams in Class B.

Aidan Anderson returned the opening kickoff to the HF-L 22 and that led to a short TD run for quarterback Ja'Vin McFollins. Then McFollins hit Vincent Arroyo for a 62-yard score and Anderson’s TD run with 4:52 left in the second quarter put Batavia in front, 21-0.

Game over? Not quite.

“It was 21-0 in the first half, but we don’t read into that,” Batavia coach Brennan Briggs said. “We said be ready for four quarters. That team right there doesn’t get shut out.”

HF-L junior QB Matt Meacham found his touch on the first drive of the second half, capping it with a 24-yard TD pass to Andrew Wanzenried, then connecting with the junior on the next drive for a 74-yard score. That made it a 21-12 game after a pair of missed extra points, but the Cougars certainly had life.

The Blue Devils responded with another short Anderson TD run and HF-L converted a fake punt on its next drive that ended with a TD pass to Nolan Smith. That cut the Batavia lead to 28-20 after Smith caught the 2-point pass with 7:27 remaining.

Batavia turned to Anderson and the running game to chew up clock but was faced with a fourth-and-23 at the HF-L 41 with 9 seconds remaining.

On the snap, McFollins dropped to pass and heaved a long ball downfield that found the hands of Cole Grazioplene.

“I wanted to get the ball in my hands and kill the clock and be smart and make the big plays that I know we can make,” McFollins said.

Briggs definitely had a decision to make on that play.

“My mind was going in a million different places there honestly,” he said. “We said drop back because we’ve got some athletes out there. Throw the ball up as high as you can. If they intercept it, make a tackle and game’s probably going to be over. If we score great, but if it’s incomplete we’re going to put our dime defense out there and we have to get one stop.”

East Rochester/Gananda 42, Penn Yan/Dundee 34

Sophomore Cadearrell Sneed Jr. scored three touchdowns to help the Bombers (6-1) erase a 20-0 hole to defeat previously unbeaten Mustangs (5-1).

Sneed Jr. and Mike Daniels combined for 330 rushing yards, collecting most of it during a second half that witnessed East Rochester/Gananda outscore Penn Yan/Dundee 34-14

The energetic Don Quinn Field crowd saw seven touchdowns in the second half. There were three lead changes, but the Bombers led for good when Brayden Dohse's quarterback sneak gave them a 30-27 advantage. Sneed trucked a defender during his third touchdown run for a 36-27 lead with 1:23 remaining.

Penn Yan/Dundee's Carter Earl and Caden Dixon connected on two fourth quarter touchdowns. The second came with 4 seconds left to get within 2, but their onside kick was returned by Daniels for a touchdown as time expired.

The Section V Class C contest had many highlights.

Bombers senior Manny Sepulveda returned an interception for a touchdown. Miles Caviness recovered a Sepulveda fumble that flew in the air to score a two-point conversion. But the biggest play may have been on Nick Slavick's interception, when he fumbled the return only for Hunter Sheehan to scoop and score for a 13-0 Mustangs lead.

Co-coaches Tim McBride and Sheldon Gibson's Mustangs entered Friday outscoring opponents 208-54.

"We told the kids it was going to be a battle all game, and when things go wrong, how do we respond," East Rochester/Gananda coach Tim Rose said. "We challenged the kids at halftime, they came out fired up and ready to go, and it showed."

Dansville/Wayland-Cohocton 23, Wayne 15

Dansville/Wayland-Cohocton stepped into the race for a top-four seed in Class B and made that contest more interesting.

Credit the D/W-C defense.

Wayne was limited to 70 yards rushing, according to D/W-C statistics, and came away with three interceptions, two by junior Zaiden VanDurme-Blackmon.

Nate Gardner, who had a team-high 79 rushing yards for D/W-C, and Blackmon rushed for touchdowns. Blackmon returned one of his interceptions for a touchdown, and his second pick off with 34 seconds remaining sealed the outcome.

Dansville/Wayland-Cohocton improved its record to 3-4, before the team turns around and plays Honeoye Falls-Lima (5-2) on Thursday in Dansville.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: East Rochester/Gananda clutches comeback win: Section V football's top performances, games from Friday