In a rain soaked contest on Friday evening, Liverpool punched their ticket to the section semifinals with a 21-6 victory over West Genesee. Coming into Friday's matchup both Liverpool and West Genesee said establishing the run and protecting the football would be a point of emphasis this week. Well, the Warriors did exactly that. Liverpool rushing for 371 yards on the evening, outgaining their opponent by 313 yards on the ground. Warriors fullback, Jacob Vacco rushing for 109 yards and two touchdowns in the process. Vacco saying after the game "we take pride in running the football and dominating the line of scrimmage."
Key Moment
Friday's game was truly decided in the first quarter. West Genesee wasted what was a terrific opening drive, with a turnover at the Liverpool one-yard line. That turnover would prove to be costly because, Genny would not score an offensive touchdown the entire evening. Their only points coming on a pick-six off of a fake field goal in the third quarter. What was even more surprising for the Wildcats, was the lack of production from their all-world running back Exavier Brumfield. After rushing for over 1400 yards this season, Brumfield was held in check. Friday was the first game all season in which the Genny tailback did not rush for at least 100 yards in a contest. For a team that rely's so heavily on it's rushing attack, the lack of a ground game proved costly on this Friday night.
Looking Ahead
For the Warriors, Friday's victory was as much about last week as it is about next week. After being shutout 28-0 by Corning, 'Pool reestablished their dominance on both sides of the ball. After not generating much offense against the Hawks, Liverpool rushed the ball virtually at will against a very stout West Genesee defense. Additionally, the Warriors held one of the sections top rushers to under 60 yards on the ground. Confidence will be high for the Warriors as they head into their quarterfinal matchup against C-NS, a team they've already defeated once before this season, next Friday evening.