| The Sun-Times Serving Williamsville and Sherman |
 | |  | |  | |  |
Trojans end Bullets’ run in quarterfinals
By Byron Painter
Editor
The Williamsville Bullets football team got beat at its own game Saturday on a blustery, windy day at Paul
Jenkins Field.
Aaron Kunz’s squad wanted to play ball control and keep the high-powered Maroa-Forsyth Trojan offense
off the field, but instead it was the Trojans that controlled the clock and snuck out of town with a hard-fought
13-6 triumph.
The usually fast-paced Trojan offense had the ball for just under 31 minutes and the Bullets only ran 13
plays in the second half.
“That is not like me and I am not very good at it,” Maroa coach Josh Jostes admitted, adding that the windy
conditions affected the playbook.
“They did a good job of keeping the ball out of our hands,” said Kunz. “They controlled the second half.”
Gary Scott, a Decatur Eisenhower transfer, totaled 223 on 27 carries, with 149 yards in the second half.
But the game did not start out at a low-scoring, slow pace, as both teams started the game with
touchdowns on their opening drives.
The Bullets were brutally efficient in a 14-play, 73-yard drive that took 6:15 off the clock. Only a penalty and
one rush for zero yards precluded a drive with positive yardage on every play.
Kunz showed some guts early and went for it on fourth-and-1 at the WHS 36, and Josh Gentile
scampered 20 yards for a first down.
The Bullets converted on a third-and-7 when Gentile found Clinton Fletcher for 10 yards to put WHS at the
1.
After a no-gainer on first down, Gentile found Nick Roscetti in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown.
The PAT kick was blocked.
“It was a beautiful drive,” admitted Kunz, calling it “our best drive of the year.”
Jostes noted it took a bit for the Trojans to get used to the WHS speed, and after that opening drive, he
switched a couple of defensive tackles.
The Trojans did not take long to answer, going 63 yards in six plays, the final 15 covered by Scott a play
after WHS was called for offsides. Cody Drew nailed the PAT to put Maroa up 7-6 at the 3:55 mark.
Tim Yuenger busted a 23-yard run up the gut on the first play to get the Trojans into Bullet territory.
“When they scored that fast, I was concerned,” acknowledged Kunz. “They ran the ball like we were not
playing defense, and it took their first drive to catch up to their speed.”
Then the defenses took over on both sides.
WHS went three-and-out, then the Trojans, after taking over near midfield, were snuffed out inside the
Bullet 20 early in the second quarter.
The Bullets drove from their 23 to the Maroa 30, getting first downs on three straight plays (Zach Strocher
16-yard run, Gentile to Fletcher 14-yard pass and Gentile 12-yard run), but on fourth-and-5, Gentile’s pass to
an open Roscetti was just off the lanky wideout’s fingertips.
Maroa went three-and-out, as did the Bullets, with Roscetti’s punt taking a fortuitous bounce and stopping
at the Maroa 4 with 3:35 left in the half.
The Trojans marched down the WHS 30, and on the next-to-last play of the half, had a touchdown pass
called back because of a penalty. The half ended with them on the WHS 25.
Maroa got the ball first in the second half, and its drive looked very similar to the Bullets’ opening salvo,
with controlled running and short passes.
Starting at their 32, the Trojans, overcoming a holding penalty in the process, got to the WHS 10 and
faced second-and-1.
On a pass intended for Joe Hockaday, who “had the corner beat,” said Jostes, the ball was tipped and
senior Keith Williams was there to catch the ball, bringing it out to the 7.
The Bullets got out near midfield after a couple of first downs, including a personal foul face mask
penalty, but Gentile was then picked off by Hockaday. The Bullets did not get another first down after that.
On the next play after the pick, Scott raced 51 yards to the 1, though it appeared he fell into the end zone.
Him being called down at the 1 turned out to be huge, as the Bullets, as has seemingly become habit in
recent weeks, snuffed out the Trojans again with their backs against the wall.
The Trojans faced fourth-and-goal from the 5, and Gabe Manning ran down Scott after a two-yard gain to
give WHS the ball back.
Jostes, who calls the plays, slammed himself after the game for his play-calling, admitting it was very
rare for him to run the ball four straight times in a situation like that.
But the Bullets could not parlay the momentum to the offense, going three-and-out, with Roscetti being
forced to punt from the end zone.
Maroa took over at the WHS 34 and scored six plays later on a Logan Stelzriede quarterback sneak from
the 1 on fourth-and-goal. A bad snap led to a failed PAT at the 7:02 mark.
The Bullets turned the ball over on the next play, and Maroa took over at the Bullet 35, but an illegal block
in the back deep in the backfield led to a 20-yard loss.
The Trojans eventually punted into the end zone for a touchback.
A personal foul penalty put the Bullets at the 35, then J.P. Meyer made a dandy catch on a slightly
underthrown pass to get the Bullets to the Maroa 48.
On the next play, however, the Bullets tried the same play, but Maroa DB Toby Propst made an adjustment
and picked off Gentile. The Bullets never got the ball back.
Maroa finished with 432 yards of offense to only 168 for the Bullets.
“We made a couple of huge defensive goal line stands (he estimated they had about 10 all season), but
we could not put enough together on offense,” said Kunz, whose team held the Trojans to just over a third of
their average scoring output (37 per game).
While the yardage numbers were lopsided, the score was not, and Kunz credited the defense, which has
been stout all season.
Strocher finished with 47 yards and Gentile 32; Gentile finished 9-for-17 passing for 89 yards.
“They put a lot of heat on Josh, and there were times he could not see over their ends (both in the 6-foot-4
range),” said Kunz. “Their offense gets all the credit, but they have one helluva defense.”
Williams finished with 19 tackles, five solo, for the Bullets, while Austin Kent had 11 and Manning nine.
Roscetti, Strocher, Jacob Weiss and Jared Buscher all had seven and Brock Kamrath six.
For Maroa, Stelzriede was 13-for-19 for 75 yards, connecting with seven different receivers.
Going into the season and then after the first couple of games, Kunz and the coaching staff were hoping
for six wins, which would have been enough for a playoff berth. But they got so much more.
“We have not gotten much credit all year, and I hope today we proved that our program is on the way up,”
he said. “I want to thank the seniors for taking us to this new level.
“We gave one of the best Class 2A programs in the state all they wanted today.”
A 10-2 final record matched the most wins in the program since the last quarterfinal run, in 1990. Kunz,
now 51-31 in eight years at the helm, has made the playoffs six times.
“I am proud as I can be of this football team and our coaching staff,” said Kunz. “There is nothing that
anybody can say except we gave it our all today.”
***
On the season, Gentile finished with 1484 yards passing (104-for-164) with 10 TDs and seven picks. He
led the rushing attack with 966 yards, with Strocher adding 549 and Roscetti 282. Roscetti caught 43 passes
for 514 yards and Meyer 34 for 560. Roscetti scored 89 points, with eight touchdowns, 27 PATs and four field
goals. Gentile scored 13 touchdowns and two conversions for 82 points. Meyer had six touchdowns.
Defensively, Williams racked up 160 total tackles, 13.3 per game. Strocher was next with 116 stops, with
Buscher adding 76, Manning 75, Zach Martin and Connor White 70 each, Kamrath 67, Kent 66 and Weiss 64.
White had eight of the Bullets’ 30 sacks, with Manning adding five, Weiss four and Kent and Strocher
three each. Kamrath had six interceptions and Roscetti four.
By Byron Painter
Editor
The Williamsville Bullets football team got beat at its own game Saturday on a blustery, windy day at Paul
Jenkins Field.
Aaron Kunz’s squad wanted to play ball control and keep the high-powered Maroa-Forsyth Trojan offense
off the field, but instead it was the Trojans that controlled the clock and snuck out of town with a hard-fought
13-6 triumph.
The usually fast-paced Trojan offense had the ball for just under 31 minutes and the Bullets only ran 13
plays in the second half.
“That is not like me and I am not very good at it,” Maroa coach Josh Jostes admitted, adding that the windy
conditions affected the playbook.
“They did a good job of keeping the ball out of our hands,” said Kunz. “They controlled the second half.”
Gary Scott, a Decatur Eisenhower transfer, totaled 223 on 27 carries, with 149 yards in the second half.
But the game did not start out at a low-scoring, slow pace, as both teams started the game with
touchdowns on their opening drives.
The Bullets were brutally efficient in a 14-play, 73-yard drive that took 6:15 off the clock. Only a penalty and
one rush for zero yards precluded a drive with positive yardage on every play.
Kunz showed some guts early and went for it on fourth-and-1 at the WHS 36, and Josh Gentile
scampered 20 yards for a first down.
The Bullets converted on a third-and-7 when Gentile found Clinton Fletcher for 10 yards to put WHS at the
1.
After a no-gainer on first down, Gentile found Nick Roscetti in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown.
The PAT kick was blocked.
“It was a beautiful drive,” admitted Kunz, calling it “our best drive of the year.”
Jostes noted it took a bit for the Trojans to get used to the WHS speed, and after that opening drive, he
switched a couple of defensive tackles.
The Trojans did not take long to answer, going 63 yards in six plays, the final 15 covered by Scott a play
after WHS was called for offsides. Cody Drew nailed the PAT to put Maroa up 7-6 at the 3:55 mark.
Tim Yuenger busted a 23-yard run up the gut on the first play to get the Trojans into Bullet territory.
“When they scored that fast, I was concerned,” acknowledged Kunz. “They ran the ball like we were not
playing defense, and it took their first drive to catch up to their speed.”
Then the defenses took over on both sides.
WHS went three-and-out, then the Trojans, after taking over near midfield, were snuffed out inside the
Bullet 20 early in the second quarter.
The Bullets drove from their 23 to the Maroa 30, getting first downs on three straight plays (Zach Strocher
16-yard run, Gentile to Fletcher 14-yard pass and Gentile 12-yard run), but on fourth-and-5, Gentile’s pass to
an open Roscetti was just off the lanky wideout’s fingertips.
Maroa went three-and-out, as did the Bullets, with Roscetti’s punt taking a fortuitous bounce and stopping
at the Maroa 4 with 3:35 left in the half.
The Trojans marched down the WHS 30, and on the next-to-last play of the half, had a touchdown pass
called back because of a penalty. The half ended with them on the WHS 25.
Maroa got the ball first in the second half, and its drive looked very similar to the Bullets’ opening salvo,
with controlled running and short passes.
Starting at their 32, the Trojans, overcoming a holding penalty in the process, got to the WHS 10 and
faced second-and-1.
On a pass intended for Joe Hockaday, who “had the corner beat,” said Jostes, the ball was tipped and
senior Keith Williams was there to catch the ball, bringing it out to the 7.
The Bullets got out near midfield after a couple of first downs, including a personal foul face mask
penalty, but Gentile was then picked off by Hockaday. The Bullets did not get another first down after that.
On the next play after the pick, Scott raced 51 yards to the 1, though it appeared he fell into the end zone.
Him being called down at the 1 turned out to be huge, as the Bullets, as has seemingly become habit in
recent weeks, snuffed out the Trojans again with their backs against the wall.
The Trojans faced fourth-and-goal from the 5, and Gabe Manning ran down Scott after a two-yard gain to
give WHS the ball back.
Jostes, who calls the plays, slammed himself after the game for his play-calling, admitting it was very
rare for him to run the ball four straight times in a situation like that.
But the Bullets could not parlay the momentum to the offense, going three-and-out, with Roscetti being
forced to punt from the end zone.
Maroa took over at the WHS 34 and scored six plays later on a Logan Stelzriede quarterback sneak from
the 1 on fourth-and-goal. A bad snap led to a failed PAT at the 7:02 mark.
The Bullets turned the ball over on the next play, and Maroa took over at the Bullet 35, but an illegal block
in the back deep in the backfield led to a 20-yard loss.
The Trojans eventually punted into the end zone for a touchback.
A personal foul penalty put the Bullets at the 35, then J.P. Meyer made a dandy catch on a slightly
underthrown pass to get the Bullets to the Maroa 48.
On the next play, however, the Bullets tried the same play, but Maroa DB Toby Propst made an adjustment
and picked off Gentile. The Bullets never got the ball back.
Maroa finished with 432 yards of offense to only 168 for the Bullets.
“We made a couple of huge defensive goal line stands (he estimated they had about 10 all season), but
we could not put enough together on offense,” said Kunz, whose team held the Trojans to just over a third of
their average scoring output (37 per game).
While the yardage numbers were lopsided, the score was not, and Kunz credited the defense, which has
been stout all season.
Strocher finished with 47 yards and Gentile 32; Gentile finished 9-for-17 passing for 89 yards.
“They put a lot of heat on Josh, and there were times he could not see over their ends (both in the 6-foot-4
range),” said Kunz. “Their offense gets all the credit, but they have one helluva defense.”
Williams finished with 19 tackles, five solo, for the Bullets, while Austin Kent had 11 and Manning nine.
Roscetti, Strocher, Jacob Weiss and Jared Buscher all had seven and Brock Kamrath six.
For Maroa, Stelzriede was 13-for-19 for 75 yards, connecting with seven different receivers.
Going into the season and then after the first couple of games, Kunz and the coaching staff were hoping
for six wins, which would have been enough for a playoff berth. But they got so much more.
“We have not gotten much credit all year, and I hope today we proved that our program is on the way up,”
he said. “I want to thank the seniors for taking us to this new level.
“We gave one of the best Class 2A programs in the state all they wanted today.”
A 10-2 final record matched the most wins in the program since the last quarterfinal run, in 1990. Kunz,
now 51-31 in eight years at the helm, has made the playoffs six times.
“I am proud as I can be of this football team and our coaching staff,” said Kunz. “There is nothing that
anybody can say except we gave it our all today.”
***
On the season, Gentile finished with 1484 yards passing (104-for-164) with 10 TDs and seven picks. He
led the rushing attack with 966 yards, with Strocher adding 549 and Roscetti 282. Roscetti caught 43 passes
for 514 yards and Meyer 34 for 560. Roscetti scored 89 points, with eight touchdowns, 27 PATs and four field
goals. Gentile scored 13 touchdowns and two conversions for 82 points. Meyer had six touchdowns.
Defensively, Williams racked up 160 total tackles, 13.3 per game. Strocher was next with 116 stops, with
Buscher adding 76, Manning 75, Zach Martin and Connor White 70 each, Kamrath 67, Kent 66 and Weiss 64.
White had eight of the Bullets’ 30 sacks, with Manning adding five, Weiss four and Kent and Strocher
three each. Kamrath had six interceptions and Roscetti four.
Issue Date: Nov. 18, 2010