OBSERVER Photo by Tim Frank Salamanca’s Maddox Isaac holds the Section VI Class C championship plaque Thursday night at Highmark Stadium.

ORCHARD PARK — In big games, the team that makes the big plays usually comes out on top, and for the Salamanca Warriors football team it has plenty of players capable of doing just that.

Playing Portville/Cuba-Rushford for the Section VI Class C title at Highmark Stadium on Thursday night, Maddox Isaac, Cory Holleran and Xavier Peters all made big plays as the Warriors stormed past the Panthers 40-14 to secure their second straight championship.

“The nerves that I have for a game like this inside they alleviate all of them,” Salamanca head coach Chad Bartoszek said about his team. “They just continuously show up to play football this year. They have a determination that they are not going to let us fail. I’ve talked about it since week two or three when we played them. Our leaders took over. We are a leader-heavy team.”

In the regular season meeting between the Class C finalists, it was a slugfest in which Salamanca narrowly came out on top, and in the first quarter it looked like the game was going to be very similar.

However, it was Salamanca which made the first big play and then it just snowballed.

On the third straight punt to start the game, Holleran got the ball in his hands and the Salamanca senior carved through the Portville/Cuba-Rushford punt team for a 37-yard return into the red zone. Then, two plays later, Maddox Isaac broke out for an 18-yard touchdown run that set up the first lead of the game at 7-0.

Portville/Cuba-Rushford provided the only response it had on the following drive, handing the ball to its best hope offensively, senior running back Maxx DeYoe. The Panthers marched down the field and DeYoe punched in a score, but a failed conversion preserved the Salamanca lead at 7-6.

Both teams showed they could score, but it was no secret that Salamanca could do it quicker and in many different ways. After receiving another deep punt, the Panthers did not want to kick back to the Warriors and made the risky choice of going for it on fourth and short inside its own 20.

Portville/Cuba-Rushford brought its best stuff up the middle, but the Warriors were ready to blow it up and forced the turnover on downs.

“Absolutely huge,” Bartoszek said about the defensive stand on fourth down. “That’s Warrick Kyler. He decided they weren’t going to get it and he blew that thing up. That’s a huge play and we score the next play on a counter to Xavier (Peters). It’s a gutsy call by Brooksy, that’s why they’re here, but it ended up helping us in the short field.”

Salamanca immediately made the Panthers pay as Peters broke off a 19-yard touchdown run.

There was a clear shift in the momentum and the Panthers could not even make it to halftime to recover before the Warriors attacked again. Working with a short field after a punt, Isaac broke off his longest run of the game, initially breaking to the sideline for the first down before deciding to cut back into the open field for a long 48-yard touchdown run.

Salamanca was riding high into halftime with the 19-6 lead and the ball would be headed back to them to start the third quarter.

After showing its running game in the first half, Salamanca started the third quarter with a bang as Isaac saw Holleran in man-coverage and made the Panthers pay, connecting for a 60-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 27-6 courtesy of Holleran’s 2-point conversion catch.

“I saw man-coverage on Cory,” Isaac said about the play. “A lot of people can’t keep up with Cory and I knew that they were going to stack the box and we were going to be able to get it over the top.”

Even though there was still half a game left, the writing was on the wall for the Panthers and they needed to start putting together offense more quickly.

When Portville/Cuba-Rushford did try to go away from the ground game the Warriors had an answer. Looking to convert a fourth down, Portville/Cuba-Rushford quarterback Eli Sleggs rolled out for the play-action pass and found his target, but he missed the mark as Holleran found himself jumping for an easy interception.

Salamanca cashed in on the turnover when Peters reached paydirt for the second time and built the lead to 33-6 with one quarter remaining.

With the game in the bag, the Warriors were not done putting their stamp on it and perhaps the most electric play of the game came in the fourth quarter, which symbolized Salamanca’s season.

Playing at Highmark Stadium, the home of Josh Allen, Salamanca’s quarterback thought he would do his best impersonation of an Allen hurdle when he broke free for his third and final touchdown run of the evening.

“I don’t get shocked very often,” Bartoszek said about Isaac. “I was shocked, I was stunned, that was fantastic. He was supposed to go down, I’m yelling go down and he jumps over him. He’s special, he’s special and he’s enjoying the moment. When you stun the entire crowd, you did something special.”

After faking a handoff, Isaac peeled out to the left side and darted toward the end zone with Portville/Cuba-Rushford defenders in the way, however that did not matter to him as he hurdled the last of the defense before dancing in the final few yards for a 28-yard score.

“It’s crazy,” Isaac said about his hurdle before scoring. “You think it’s just video game-like, but it was just instincts and I don’t even know what happened, I blacked out. It was insane.”

Isaac finished with 118 yards on the ground with three touchdowns on nine attempts and Peters reached paydirt twice and amassed 70 yards on 10 carries. Then on the flip side, DeYoe still had an impressive game on the ground with a touchdown, a 2-point conversion and 130 rushing yards on 34 attempts for the Panthers.

After ending nearly a 25-year championship drought, Salamanca now has won the sectional title in back-to-back years.

“Completely different,” Bartoszek said about the feelings after both titles. “Emotionally, I’m definitely different. I think that the expectation level rose about midseason like we really got something here and that’s kind of been the message since then.”

Maintaining its perfect season the Warriors are not satisfied with just winning the sectional title as their sights are onto bigger things entering the New York State Public High School Athletic Association tournament at the Far West Regionals next week against the Section V champion.

“It’s an insane feeling,” Isaac said about moving forward. “We all love each other, we all want to keep going and we all do it for each other. We do it for the community and we do it for the people that can’t do it.”

Portville/Cuba-Rushford 0 6 0 8 — 14

Salamanca 7 12 14 7 — 40

S–Isaac 18 run (Chudy kick)

P–DeYoe 3 run (Run failed)

S–Peters 19 run (Kick failed)

S–Isaac 48 run (Pass failed)

S–Holleran 60 pass from Isaac (Holleran catch)

S–Peters 13 run (Kick failed)

S–Isaac 28 run (Chudy kick)

P–Schappacher 1 run (DeYoe run)