Southwestern stifled the potent Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton offense in the first half as both teams remained scoreless, but it was the Eagles defense rising to the occasion in the second half when Thandon Bensink returned an interception 30 yards for the first score. Bensink’s pick lit a fire under Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton as it added three more second-half touchdowns en route to a 28-0 Class C South victory.

“I cannot get into all the details, but it did not start well, before we even got on the school bus,” Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton head coach Ryan Gibbs said about Friday’s win. “We dropped some early passes, but I just told them that this is what good teams are made of, we find ways to win. We didn’t play a good first half and came out and absolutely dominated the second half. I think the statement was made today for sure.”

Southwestern’s defense came to play and in the first half caused the Eagles plenty of problems as Tyler McIntyre was relentless in his pressure of quarterback Brayden Gibbs.

“That changes the game,” Southwestern head coach Jake Burkholder said about a good pass rush. “We know they like to throw the ball around a lot and we were able to get pressure on them and keep that contained in the first half. It starts with getting pressure up front because we can drop eight guys and cover. Jacobson is a heck of an athlete, so being able to focus on him and just getting pressure with those front three is huge.”

Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton’s Mason Whitesell runs the ball during Friday’s game against Southwestern at Charles A. Lawson Field in West Ellicott. Photo courtesy of Shelly Phillips

Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton was also able to bring on plenty of pressure from its defensive line, giving Owen Hayes no time under center for the Trojans.

“We’ve got some pieces moving around,” Burkholder said about his team. “(Brody) Larson being out hurts, but we just gotta do our job. It just comes down to executing at the end of the day, we’ve got a lot of young guys still learning and we just have got to continue to grow.”

The pass rush caused Hayes troubles when targeting receivers and ultimately the Trojans paid the ultimate price with Bensink’s interception return.

“I think it dates back to last year,” Gibbs said about his defensive line. “We weren’t physical. My style of football, my style of personality to be honest is an in-your-face physical-type dude and the challenge for the defensive line was I want a shutout every week. The defensive line with Yazan (Abuhmedian), Kieffer (Maytum), Mason (Maring) and Walt (Lukasiak) in the middle, I don’t think there’s a better one in the league.”

Bensink’s interception was a reward for his great effort all game on both sides of the ball, leading the Eagles with 130 rushing yards.

“Thandon, we have a lot of trust in him,” Gibbs stated. “At running back, he’s a sophomore, a lot of trust in him. I felt like early in the game he was questioning himself a little bit, he started playing fast and the rest is history. That is what Thandon Bensink is, everybody else is surprised, we’re definitely not on our sideline.”

After a half of both teams struggling to move the ball, Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton finally cracked through the Southwestern defense and it was on the legs of Gibbs scrambling out of the pocket. The junior quarterback was working with a short field after a turnover on downs and made the most of it as he broke off a 40-yard run to the Trojans’ 4-yard line.

Gibbs was rewarded for his big run with a 4-yard rush for paydirt and the 14-0 lead courtesy of a Carson Fairbank kick. With his arm stealing the spotlight most weeks, Gibbs finished with 80 yards and a score on seven rushing attempts.

Missing key offensive pieces and the Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton defense rolling on all cylinders, the 14-point deficit looked to be too much for Southwestern.

“We had a great game plan going in,” Burkholder stated. “The kids were rearing and ready to go and sometimes a little momentum shift. We’ve got to just ride that wave and understand what goes down comes back up. We struggled a little bit with that and things kind of got out of hand there, but we’ve got some guys out there leaving it all out on the line.”

After dropping a couple key passes in the first half that could have led to touchdowns, the Eagles made their presence felt in the fourth quarter to put the game away. It was Nick Jacobson on the receiving end of both touchdowns and they were both highlight-reel plays.

First, Jacobson reeled in a 15-yard pass feathered in by Gibbs right on the sideline of the endzone and the junior receiver tapped both toes in for good measure. Then under five minutes to play, Jacobson caught a pass on the right side of the field and cut all the way to the far sideline outracing Southwestern defenders for a very long 49-yard touchdown and the 28-0 lead.

“We were a little nervous coming into this week,” Gibbs said about Jacobson and Devin Hewes. “Neither of them practiced all week, they were a little banged up from last week. They were a little rusty at the beginning, we all got a little rust and they knocked it off and did what they do. Big time players make plays in big time moments.”

Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton’s (5-1, 5-1) victory has it in the driver’s seat for the No. 2 spot in the division behind undefeated Salamanca (6-0, 6-0), while Southwestern (3-3, 2-3) will have to fight the next two weeks to get back above .500.

Chautauqua Lake/Westfield/Brocton 0 0 14 14 — 28

Southwestern 0 0 0 0 — 0

CL/W/B–Bensink 30 interception return (Fairbank kick)

CL/W/B–Gibbs 4 run (Fairbank kick)

CL/W/B–Jacobson 15 pass from Gibbs (Fairbank kick)

CL/W/B–Jacobson 49 pass from Gibbs (Fairbank kick)