ORCHARD PARK — The Newfane Panthers typically lose in the postseason. And usually in the most painful way they can.
Whether that’s falling in the first round last year or losing in overtime in the first round two years ago. The coaches, players and community have seen their share of painful losses.
But this year is different.
This year they won a playoff game for the first time since 1993 and headed to Highmark Stadium for the Section VI Title game for the first time in program history.
For a moment, the most painful of all those losses seemed like a possibility, this time against their biggest rivals, when Wilson rallied from a 20-7 deficit in the Section VI Class D championship game.
But they flipped the script and with it erased the demons of the past by getting a 28-20 win to become the first Niagara County team to win a sectional football championship since 2009.
“There are no words,” Newfane head coach Chuck Nagel said. “This for a small-town guy from Newfane like me is a dream come true. You know, biggest goal ever was to get to Highmark and now that we got to Highmark and we won a sectional championship the first time in school history, I’m almost in tears thinking about it. I’m so happy, so proud of my boys, proud of this town, our fans, everybody, coaches, an amazing group of people.”
The Lakemen and Panthers have played regularly since 1947 but few if any have matched the excitement of the last two. In the two games, Wilson has overcome deficits of 13-points in both contests.
“These guys never quit,” Wilson head coach Bill Atlas said. “That’s all we ever ask them is play your butt off and never quit and they did.”
After losing in overtime to Portville two years ago, Capen had no interest in playing an extra period of football this year.
“Honeslty, I have a little bit of PTSD from Portville back in my sophomore year, overtime sucks,” Capen said. “That’s terrible, so I knew we couldn’t have that so I had to go down there and score.”
Heading into this season, Newfane had not won a playoff game since 1993 when Nagel was playing for the team he now coaches for. That season they lost to Salamanca at home in the second round to end their season.
“Nothing from the pain of ‘93’s ever going to go away,” Nagel said. “Just like the playoff losses we’ve endured as a coaching staff but this helps pad it a little bit. This is for all the past, future and present Newfane Panthers football players, this sectional championship.”
After the score was 14-7 heading into the intermission, Newfane landed a big blow to open the second half when they drove down the field and Capen snuck it in from one-yard out to push his team in front 20-7. The Lakemen needed to respond and they did, with a score to make it 20-14 late in the third quarter.
The Lakemen’s entire comeback could have been stopped in its tracks though midway through the fourth quarter though when Newfane went for it on fourth down but the ball was batted into the turf, giving the Lakemen the ball back with seven minutes to go in the game. They took advantage with a score to knot the game at 20.
“They stayed calm,” Nagel said. “That’s a very smart group of players over there and coaches, and they’ve been in big situations like this. It’s their third time in four or five years being here. So the game wasn’t too big for them and we knew that they weren’t gonna be out of it until the very end.”
The Panthers got the ball back with just under five minutes to go in the game knowing what they had to do, put points on the board. If they did that, they were living to see another day. If not, the game is going to overtime. Capen put the team on his back driving them down the field and then, as he has done 26 times before, running it in himself to give his team a six-point lead and then he repeated the feat once again for the two-point conversion to go up by eight-points.
“We knew we could get outside and we had to get on 37, Brock (Lepsch) he’s a hell of a player,” Capen said. “We had to get on them. I started to get a touchdown, put my head down, hit that blue. … As soon as I ran into that dude over there I knew that I got in.”
Capen finished the day going 10-for-16 for 133 yards and one touchdown while adding 19 carries for 40 yards and two touchdowns.
The Panthers return to the field at 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 21, when they take on the Section V winner of the game between Notre Dame/Byron-Bergen and Avon.
Wilson finished the season 10-2.