WILSON — Thousands of fans filled Walter J. Hutchinson Field, looking for a show. And Mac Capen gave them one.
Rivals Newfane and Wilson squared off with the Class D league championship on the line, with one team heading into the playoffs with an unbeaten record. And Capen’s Panthers did it the old-fashioned way.
In a rain-soaked game, Newfane decided to grind it out on the ground and only attempted seven passes all night. They didn’t even need to throw that many. The Panthers gashed Wilson for 409 yards on the ground and Capen did the most damage.
The Newfane quarterback ran for 231 yards and four touchdowns to push the Panthers to a 42-26 win over the Lakemen Friday to close the regular season. Newfane sealed its first undefeated season since 1993 and secured the No. 1 overall seed in the Section VI Class D playoffs.
“It means everything. As a football coach in a small town that I grew up in, it’s always our goal,” Newfane head coach Chuck Nagel said. “We work extremely hard, we’re extremely passionate. From top to bottom, my whole coaching staff, we put a lot of work in as far as developing the playbook that aligns well to our personnel. The boys show up when we need them to in the weight room, in the weight room, in offseason work.”
The first half was all about the ground game with Wilson having 14 carries for 31 yards and one touchdown. The Panthers rushing attack was dominated by Capen, who had 15 carries for 130 yards and three touchdowns, while the team as a whole had 30 carries for 244 yards.
“We spied him a little bit. But, yeah, he’s tough to take down,” Lakemen head coach Bill Atlas said.
One of the biggest differences between the two halves was the Lakemen’s ability to stop Capen, who had 101 yards on the ground in the second half, but he still got loose for a game-clinching run.
As the Lakemen attempted a comeback bringing their deficit as close as eight points but they were sunk by Capen when they thought they had him bottled up but he tip-toed his way down the sideline for a 63-yard touchdown to push his team’s lead out to 39-23.
“That definitely felt like that,” Capen said about the score putting the game away. “…We knew we had to go down there and seal the deal and then our defense stood tall and we scored again. That’s what it’s all about.”
During the postgame handshakes, the Panthers were encouraging the Lakemen, who will be the No. 2 seed in Class D, to keep their head up and saying that the two would play again in the sectional championship game at Highmark Stadium.
After the game, a jubilant Panthers squad flew onto the field to celebrate with one another before they all sprinted to the fans along the fence to celebrate the Class D title with them.
“It’s nothing new. I told this team back in early spring,” Nagel said. “I said, ‘You guys put a good product on that field, this town’s gonna love you guys up and they’re gonna show up.’ That’s the type of community we have at Newfane. We got a great group of players, parents and community members, local businesses, fans, old Newfane alumni, players. They all showed up and you could hear them.”