Hornell Football: Red Raiders wrangle Mustangs in wild 28-25 win

DANSVILLE — Hornell held off a late fourth quarter rally from the Dansville Mustangs in order to earn an exciting LCAA win by a 28-25 final on Wednesday evening in Dansville.

The Red Raiders put together their most complete performance on both sides of the ball in order to get their second win of the season in dramatic fashion.

“I think this win was really important for the team. Getting the win without one of our best players in Brennan (Khork) against a really good team gives us a lot of confidence. When we keep moving forward through the rest of the season, I think these guys can string a couple wins together and put a nice finish on the season,” said HHS coach Erik Werner. “The kids have been working so hard, and it’s nice to have that pay off in the end. That’s really, really big for them.”

Hornell was particularly great on the defensive side of the ball, where head coach Erik Werner stated that he believed it was their best performance of the season against an exceptionally talented Dansville offense.

“I think there is a ton of improvement that this group can still make, but they stepped up at big times in this game. Dansville is a very good team that has a lot of team speed. There were a couple of play where we were in good position and did everything that we had planned, but they just had too much speed,” said Werner. “I think Dansville is a really good team, but I do think that this was our best defensive performance. That was good to see that we are making improvements as the season goes on.”

Hornell took the first drive right down the field and was threatening to score, but the Mustangs forced and recovered a fumble on the 38-yard line in order to take possession.

Hornell’s defense made a quick three and out stop against the Mustangs in order to take over possession in great field position. The Red Raiders took the next drive down the field and this time, they finished the possession as Mason Drew broke a tackle as he dove across the goal line to give Hornell the 7-0 lead with just 3:35 left in the first quarter.

“Mason Drew had a huge game for us. He’s been a running back his whole life, but then we moved him to receiver because we had Brennan and we wanted to get Mason on the field. But his natural position is running back and he showed how tough he can run,” said Werner. “He’s not a big kid, but he’s tough, and he can run.”

Dansville responded in their very next possession with a lengthy drive that ended the first quarter and stretched into the second quarter. The Mustangs worked the ball down the field in chunks before Caleb Rigdon finally found the end zone on a broken play from 16 yards out that cut the HHS lead down to 7-6 with 10:30 left in the first half.

The Mustangs got a big defensive stop on Hornell’s next possession in order to take over late in the half. Dansville quickly moved the ball down the field but faced a huge fourth and ten deep in Hornell territory that seemed as though it would be the end of the drive. But Caleb Rigdon rolled out to the right and took off on a quarterback scramble, racing past one defender and dancing around another on the goal line to give the Mustangs the 12-7 lead with 4:31 left in the first half.

Hornell’s offense got back into a solid rhythm on the following drive as they quickly drove down the field in the final minute of play. The Red Raiders got into a first and goal situation with just 48 seconds left, but the Mustangs got a huge sack to force Hornell into a last second heave from 25 yards away.

But on that heave, Dom Nasca placed a perfect strike in between two defenders where Griffyn Baker rose up and snatched the ball out of the air before fighting off those two defenders to get across the goal line and give HHS the narrow 14-12 lead at the halftime break.

“We know that Dom (Nasca) can throw the football. He’s not the most stereotypical quarterback, but he can throw the ball, and we set a goal for ourselves that we were going to throw the ball and show that you can’t put that many guys in the box without us taking a shot,” said Werner. “We had a couple of miscues right at the end of the half, and we were thinking like, oh darn, there goes the score at the end of the half. But then Dom put a great ball up, and Griffyn made a great play. And that was huge for us to take the lead going into the half. It breathed some new life into the team.”

After the intermission, Dansville took back the lead on their first possession of the second half. The Mustangs once again moved the ball slowly down the field by chipping yards away, and it eventually ended with a three yard touchdown run from Ryan Carnevale with 5:15 left in the third, giving Dansville the slim 18-14 lead.

The Red Raider offense responded with their own lengthy drive that finished the third quarter and stretched into the opening minutes of the fourth. Hornell once again got set up with a first and goal situation and was pushed backwards by the Dansville defense on the first play.

But once again, the Red Raiders recovered and found the end zone when Dom Nasca faked the option pitch and dove across the goal line to give HHS the 21-18 lead with 10:19 left in the fourth quarter.

On the next drive, the Hornell defense made one of its biggest plays of the season as it recovered a huge fumble on the Dansville 43-yard line that gave HHS a chance to essentially put the game away.

The offense then capitalized on the opportunity as they drove straight down the field and once again got into a first and goal situation. But this time, Mason Drew made quick work of the moment as the slammed his way into the end zone from six yards away in order to increase the lead to 28-18 lead with just under five minutes left in the game.

But Dansville was not about to go away from without a fight. The Mustangs quickly moved down the field and then executed a perfect hook-and-ladder as Andrew Morrow caught the comeback route and pitched it back to Evan Pruonto who ran down the sideline for the touchdown that cut the lead down to 28-26 with just 2:19 left in the game.

The Mustangs attempted the onside kick, but the ball flew out of bounds, giving Hornell the possession back with a chance to run out the clock. The Red Raiders did just that in order to come away with the 28-26 final.

Hornell improves to 2-2 with the win and now prepares for the Attica Blue Devils on Tuesday night at Maple City Park. Dansville falls to 1-3 and now hits the road to Mynderse on Tuesday evening at 6:30 p.m.

Evan Pruonto had eight carries for for 85 yards with a touchdown to lead Dansville. Ryan Carnevale rushed 16 times for 65 yards and a score. Calab Rigdon added nine carries for for 20 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Logan Young ran three times for for 8 yards. 

Drew Morrow brought in three catches for for 59 yards and a two-point conversion. Rigdon completed 3-of-5 passes for 59 yards

Pruonto led the defense with 14 tackles, while Cam Cartwright had 12 tackles and Gus Swyers added nine tackles. Carnevale had seven and Shane Crandall added five tackles. Holdyn Freeman had four tackles, a fumble recovery and a sack. Adding one tackle each were Rigdon, Gavin Brooks, JJ Crissy, Ben Sick, Morrow and Young.