By John Anderson, 10/8/21
After a nearly two-hour bus drive to Frewsburg, the Wellsville Lions football team looked like road warriors, jumping out to a 22-0 first half lead over undefeated Frewsburg, one of the top ranked teams in the state.
However, after two Lion injuries and some costly penalties, Frewsburg scored with 5:22 left for a 30-28 lead and sealed it with a touchdown with 24 seconds left for a 37-28 victory.
Wellsville’s three-game win streak ends and the Lions are sitting at 3-3 in fourth place behind Frewsburg, undefeated Red Jacket and 4-1 Pembroke.
The Lions host Canisteo-Greenwood on Saturday, a team half-game behind Wellsville in the standings. The game could decide which one of the teams makes the Section V tournament.
Wellsville jumped out to the lead thanks to some big plays and great defense by senior Connor Ferguson.
On the opening drive Perkins hit Dalton Ketchner for a 21-yard touchdown then Perkins ran in the conversion for an 8-0 lead.
The Wellsville coaching staff submitted Perkins’ stats from the Wellsville Sun to Section V last week and he was named offensive player of the week for his five touchdown performance in the Homecoming win over South Seneca/Romulus.
With the 8-0 lead, the defense made their first stand.
The Lions forced a fumble and Shane Davidson recovered for the Lions. John Layfield then ran 25 yards for the second Wellsville touchdown. Perkins ran in the conversion for a 16-0 early lead.
Frewsburg drove down to the Wellsville 11, but the Lions held on downs to end the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Ketchner intercepted a Frewsburg pass and ran 20 yards. Perkins then ran for 20 yards, and with the Lions facing a 4th-and-1, Perkins went for 9 yards ona quarterback sneak.
After a couple runs by Jeremiah Havens, Wellsville went back to the air as Perkins found Layfield for a 22-yard touchdown and a 22-0 lead with 7:08 left in the second quarter.
Frewsburg answered with a one-yard touchdown run and and conversion with 3:33 left in the first half. The halftime score was 22-8.
Frewsburg came out strong in the second second half scoring again to cut the lead to 22-16.
The Lions defense came up big again as Ketcher picked up a forced fumble and ran 35 yards for a touchdown and a 28-16 lead.
Frewsburg answered again with a 25-yard score but Wellsville stopped the conversion to hang on to a 28-22 lead. Frewsburg took the lead, 30-28, in the fourth quarter with 8:50 left on a touchdown and two point conversion.
Penalties hurt the Lions defense on the drive, and on the next offensive possession, three straight penalties were called against Wellsville making the drive start 1st-and-25. The drive stalled at the 50 and Frewsburg scored the eventual game-winning touchdown.
J.J. Howard and Havens each had two catches for the Lions.
