Niagara Falls had a chance early. It was a few inches away from completing a big play down the field and turning the game on its head.
That is until the ball slipped out onto the turf and was returned by Lancaster for a touchdown. But that was the kind of day it was for Niagara Falls.
The Wolverines struggled with turnovers and miscues throughout and it cost them in a 42-6 loss to Lancaster Saturday at Art Calandrelli Stadium. While Niagara Falls’ defense had an interception and held the Legends to 14 points, the offense struggled as miscues enabled Lancaster to score 28 points off five turnovers.
“We’re not good enough to overcome that,” Niagara Falls head coach Don Bass said. “… It’s extremely frustrating because they know how to do better.”
Late in this game, Bass was thinking about taking his quarterback out with the idea of looking ahead to next week. But he wanted to give his inexperienced quarterback the opportunity to end the game on a high note and take some of that momentum into the future. He wanted his Smith to figure out what it feels like to fight and get knocked down but get up and accomplish something positive.
Smith did just that with 35 seconds to go when he ran in a touchdown to trim the deficit to the final margin of 42-6. After the score, Smith came over the sidelines and gave his coach a hug and thanked him.
“He (Bass) was going to take me out but he wanted me to keep that motor going,” Smith said. “That’s going to help for sure. But heck of a team, they (Lancaster) know what they doing with the blitz for sure.”
That blitz and pressure looks were one of the biggest parts that enabled Lancaster to get the win.
Throughout the contest, the Niagara Falls signal caller was pressured which resulted in him being sacked at least nine times and throwing off his back foot multiple other times. It was part of Lancaster’s game plan heading into this one as they tried to throw different looks at the senior quarterback.
“I thought Coach (Dave) Mansell and his staff did a really great job of preparing this week,” Lancaster head coach Eric Rupp said. “We brought several different zone blitzes, we mixed up our looks, brought some exotic pressures, which are really tough to pick up. So I think a lot of it was the stunts and the blitzes that we ran.”
Niagara Falls is back in action at 2 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 19 when it goes to Hutchinson Central Technical School.