TONAWANDA — An explosive night from the North Tonawanda offense lifted the Lumberjacks to T-NT glory once again.
North Tonawanda continued its dominance in the annual rivalry by defeating Tonawanda 43-15 in the 116th edition of T-NT Friday night at Tonawanda High School.
It marks the Lumberjacks’ sixth consecutive win over the Timberwolves and 23rd in 25 games. North Tonawanda now leads the all-time series 75-32-9.
“This is the game year in and year out, the records don’t matter,” said North Tonawanda head coach Chris Tideswell. “Two cities come out and support. … It was a bit sloppy on our end for a little bit there, but we handled business.”
The Lumberjacks (4-4) opened the scoring midway through the first quarter in a big way through a big man.
Lineman Robert Shattuck lined up at fullback and rumbled in for a 3-yard touchdown to give North Tonawanda an 8-0 lead after a successful two-point conversion.
“We were talking about getting Robert a touchdown all week,” Tideswell said. “Robert didn’t play for us last year, and he decided to come out his senior year. I couldn’t be happier.”
A trench player opening the scoring for the Lumberjacks seemed to foreshadow the rest of the night, as North Tonawanda’s line play proved crucial throughout the game.
Three first half sacks and a handful of tackles for loss from the Lumberjack defense stifled the Tonawanda offense throughout the first half, holding their opposition to just three first downs.
On the other side of the ball, strong blocking helped the Lumberjacks tack on two more rushing scores through Javier Ortiz and A.J. Cinquino. Johnny Bertini also caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Cinquino to round out the first-half scoring and give North Tonawanda a 29-0 halftime lead.
“We’re young up front, and they just battled all night,” Tideswell said of his linemen. He specifically praised three underclassmen, Rhyder Gierszewski, Bryce Reimer and Jon Landen, for their strong showings.
After a Julian Jackson-Rodriguez rushing touchdown cut the Timberwolves’ deficit to 29-7 in the third quarter, a quarterback sneak from Brandon Marinelli, who was filling in for a banged up Cinquino, put any hopes of a Tonawanda comeback to bed.
Cinquino hurt the Tonawanda defense both through the air and with his legs, finishing with over 100 passing and rushing yards. His third and final touchdown, a 22-yard pop pass to the team’s senior kicker Blake Suitor, rounded out the Lumberjack scoring.
“It felt like the energy was just, from the jump, definitely bigger this week,” Cinquino said. “(This win) is big for the city. Every year, this game is marked on the schedule, and it just feels so sweet.”
First-year Tonawanda head coach Courtlan Green knew he had a huge task to turn around a program that’s last win came in September 2023. Despite the team’s 0-8 record on the season, he was thrilled with the progress his young team has made – and they ended the year on a high note.
The Timberwolves’ final offensive play of the season was a 73-yard passing touchdown from quarterback Cole Keleman to receiver Nick Graf.
“You don’t take the past and let that dictate who you are,” Green said. “We’ve just been trying to reinvigorate the pride, the energy, the culture around here. … Rome wasn’t built in a day. And I look at this season as the first brick in a hopefully great wall.”
For North Tonawanda, their 4-4 record wasn’t enough to earn them a playoff berth, but it shows further progress for a program that’s still building. It’s the first time the Lumberjacks have finished with a .500 or better since the COVID-shortened season in spring 2021. Before that, you have to go back to 2016.
With their quarterback, leading rusher, leading receiver and some key faces in the trenches all set to return next season, things are looking up for the Lumberjacks.
“We’re not where we want to be yet, but we’re growing,” Tideswell said. “We’re heading in the right direction, and it feels good to be turning things around.”
And of course, ending with a win in “the game” never hurts, either.