McQuaid 24, Hilton 21

The Knights and Cadets fought down to the wire in a battle of unbeaten Class AA teams, but a stop by the McQuaid defense earned them the win.

Each team scored twice in the first half, with Eoin Meyer and John Harding tallying rushing touchdowns for the Knights. Hilton got their points on a 95-yard kickoff return touchdown from Robert Lowry and a Colton Thorp passing touchdown to Conner Bellanca.

A McQuaid field goal in the first quarter by Dominic Sansone gave them the halftime lead at 17-14, but it could have been more as Hilton’s Luke Lockhart made an interception as McQuaid was driving deep into Cadet territory.

Harding opened the third quarter with a 65-yard drive to give McQuaid a 24-14 lead, but the Cadets answered at the start of the fourth quarter. Lowry plunged in for a short touchdown with 8:05 remaining to make it a 24-21 game.

McQuaid drove into Hilton territory on the ensuing drive, but the Cadets got a stop on fourth down to give their offense the ball back with just over four minutes remaining.

The Cadets drove to McQuaid’s 17-yard line, but Joe Damico and Nathan Earl met in Hilton’s backfield for a sack on third down to set up fourth and long, which was unsuccessful.

Earl had a pair of sacks in the game, with Aiden Jones also recording a sack for McQuaid.

Lowry finished with 22 carries for 92 yards and a touchdown for the Cadets. Thorp completed 10 of 17 passes for 147 yards and a touchdown. Lockhart had four catches for 65 yards and an interception on defense.

McQuaid (6-0), the top team in our High School Huddle local football rankings, will play at Brighton on Saturday, October 14th at 2:00 p.m. Hilton (5-1) will travel to Aquinas on Friday, October 13th.

Aquinas 27, Penfield 0

After a 1-2 start to the season, the L’il Irish rattled off three straight wins to turn the year around. Aquinas has now won their last three games by a combined score of111-28.

Midway through the first quarter, Derrion Battle ran it up the middle from 32 yards out for the opening score of the game. Later in the half, freshman quarterback Trent Buttles scored off a QB sneak to make it 14-0 into the break.

Early in the fourth quarter, Battle found the endzone after a 10-yard run to extend the lead to 20-0. For the final score of the game, Buttles connected with Alexis Rosado in the end zone with 4:30 remaining in the contest.

Battle finished with 181 rushing yards on 28 carries. Buttles completed ten passes for 115 yards.

Aquinas (4-2) will head back home next week to face Hilton on Friday, October 13^th. Penfield (1-5) will look to get back on track against UPrep the same evening.

East/World of Inquiry 27, Pittsford 17

The Eagles scored the first 20 points of the game and never looked back, taking down the Panthers in a Class AA/A crossover battle.

Anthony Hampton scored his team’s first and last touchdown, finishing with 11 carries for 91 yards and a pair of rushing touchdowns for the Eagles.

Zymier Jackson had an efficient day in the air. He completed 22 of 31 attempts for 256 yards and a touchdown, which was caught by DeAndre Leonard. Jackson also had 28 rushing yards. Anthony Diaz had five catches for 75 yards. Yusuf Abdi made two field goals for the Eagles.

Douglas Denning and Jonathan Moore had Pittsford’s two touchdowns, both on the ground.

East (6-0) will travel to Athena on Thursday, October 12th. Pittsford (2-4) will host Fairport on Friday, October 13th.

Batavia 36, Geneva 0

The Blue Devils defense stepped up big Friday night as they pitched their first shutout of the season.

Leading the way at quarterback for Batavia was Bronx Buchholz who completed eight passes for 136 yards and two touchdowns. The junior also had 12 carries for 76 yards on the ground.

Mekhi Fortes had an efficient day running the ball with five carries going 111 yards and a score. Zailen Griffin finished with 64 rushing yards and a trip to the pay dirt.

As a team, Batavia finished with five interceptions. Justin Smith snagged two picks while Tym Murrell, Greyson Fix, and Will Stevens all had one.

Batavia (4-2) will host Rochester Prep next Saturday, October 14^th while Geneva (3-3) will look to turn things around at Vertus the same day.

East Rochester/Gananda 42, Penn Yan/Dundee 14

The Bombers exploded for 34 points in the second half to snap a two-game losing streak.

For just the second time in school history, Gananda High School hosted a varsity football game.

Ben Newman connected with Brayden Dohse on a passing touchdown to give ER/G an 8-6 lead into halftime. The game was tied at 14 in the 3^rd quarter before the Bombers scored the final 28 points of the game to seal it.

Next up for East Rochester/Gananda (4-2) is a trip out to Hornell next Friday, October 13^th. Penn Yan/Dundee (1-5) will face a stiff test the following day against Attica/Alexander.

Pal-Mac 34, Midlakes 0

The Red Raiders remain undefeated after they shut out Midlakes Friday night.

Keegan Hoesterey highlighted Pal-Mac’s victory with a phenomenal one-handed touchdown catch near the end of the first half. That gave the Red Raiders a 20-0 lead at the half and they would cruise from there.

Both Pal-Mac and Midlakes are playing independent schedules this season. Pal-Mac competed in Class B last year while Midlakes was in Class C.

Pal-Mac (4-0) will host Mynderse next Friday, October 13^th while Midlakes (1-3) travel to Newark/Marion the same night.

Red Jacket 72, Finney 32

Red Jacket leaned on senior star quarterback Micah Harshfield to grab their second win of the season.

Harshfield finished with a staggering 302 rushing yards on just 14 carries including five trips to the end zone. Matthew Allen did his part turning 10 carries into 193 yards and three touchdowns.

Hasen Wetherbee also had a touchdown run. Mason Hele scooped up a fumble and returned it 52 yards the other way to score a touchdown on defense for Red Jacket.

Red Jacket (2-3) will take on Caledonia Mumford/Byron-Bergen next Friday, October 13^th. Finney (0-6) will be off next week and will host Bolivar Richburg on Saturday, October 21^st.