Football: Holland Patent routed by General Brown in Section 3 Class C final

Jon Rathbun, Times Telegram
·4 min read

SYRACUSE - The tone was set early Sunday in Section III's Class C championship game in Syracuse University's JMA Wireless Dome.

Holland Patent's Golden Knights took the game's opening kickoff, ran three offensive plays with each gaining two yards, and punted.

General Brown's Lions received that punt, ran three plays and took an 8-0 lead with a quick 81-yard scoring drove.

General Brown's captains display the team's championship banner after beating Holland Patent in Section III's Class C championship game Sunday.
General Brown's captains display the team's championship banner after beating Holland Patent in Section III's Class C championship game Sunday.

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"We came out flat," Holland Patent coach Brian Briggs said, "and General Brown came out to play on the other side today."

The Lions led 16-0 after the first quarter and 28-0 at halftime on the way to a 41-0 victory, their second over the Golden Knights this season. The General Brown defense held Holland Patent without a first down until midway through the third quarter in a stifling performance that produced the No. 3 seed's fourth shutout of the season.

"I thought our defense was lights out," General Brown coach Doug Black said. "I thought they played close to perfectly. … We still need to improve on some little things. We do have a lot to clean up as we move on (because) the games just get tougher and tougher."

General Brown Lion Ryan Chamberlain (left) grabs Holland Patent ball-carrier Joseph Latella from behind during the second half of Section III's Class C championship game.
General Brown Lion Ryan Chamberlain (left) grabs Holland Patent ball-carrier Joseph Latella from behind during the second half of Section III's Class C championship game.

General Brown (9-1) had beaten No. 5 Holland Patent (8-3) 48-6 at home in Week 6. Holland Patent had been unbeaten at that time but lost again the following week against Adirondack, the No. 1 seed the Golden Knights upset in last week's semifinals.

The Lions put to rest any thoughts of another seeding upset by the Golden Knights who had also beaten No. 4 Bishop Ludden/Syracuse Academy of Science on the road in the first round of postseason play. Starting its first possession from its own 19-yard line, General Brown got a short run from Sheamus Devine and 12-yarder for a first down from quarterback Aiden McManaman before Kaleb Natali cut inside a big block from Dawson Rastley near the visitors sideline and raced 65 yards for a touchdown 2 1/2 minutes into the game. Gabe Malcolm, the fourth Lion to carry the ball, ran in the conversion for an 8-0 lead.

Devine added a four-yard touchdown run three minutes later with a McManaman-to-Natali conversion pass. After being stopped on fourth down from the Holland Patent 39 on their next drive, the Lions went 70 yards in 15 plays to start the second quarter and extended the lead with Luke Heller taking a pitch to the right one yard for the first of his two touchdowns. Heller scored again before halftime on a similar play covering three yards.

General Brown Lion Luke Heller dives for the goal line while surounded by Holland Patent tacklers on a a second quarter touchdown run during Section III's Class C championship game on the campus of Syracuse University.
General Brown Lion Luke Heller dives for the goal line while surounded by Holland Patent tacklers on a a second quarter touchdown run during Section III's Class C championship game on the campus of Syracuse University.

The Lions built their 18-point halftime lead as much on defense as offense. Holland Patent gained 16 total yards before the intermission.

Malcolm added two touchdowns in the second half, one on a run and the other on a pass from McManaman.

"The last time we played Holland Patent in the sectional finals, we lost," Malcolm said, referencing a 21-14 Holland Patent victory in the 2018 Class B game when he was in eighth grade, "so this is kind of a revenge game."

Meanwhile, Holland Patent recorded its first first down on a pass from Jonathan Zylinsky, who started at quarterback, to Nick DeForrest with less than four minutes left in the third quarter.

The final three Holland Patent drives ended on General Brown's side of midfield, one on a fumble, one on a fourth down stop and one on the final buzzer following a sack on second-and-goal.

Natali and Malcolm each was credited with 149 rushing yards, Malcolm on 16 carries and Natali on 18. Natali went over 1,000 yards for the season - he leads the team with 1,056 while Malcolm has 972 and Devine, who ran for 7 Sunday, has 718.

Team most valuable players selected by the Central New York Chapter of the National Football Foundation for Section III's Class C championship game were General Brown Lion Gabe Malcolm (42) and Holland Patent Golden Knight Nicholas Acevedo (9).
Team most valuable players selected by the Central New York Chapter of the National Football Foundation for Section III's Class C championship game were General Brown Lion Gabe Malcolm (42) and Holland Patent Golden Knight Nicholas Acevedo (9).

The championship is General Brown's seventh, all in Class C, and first since 2013. Holland Patent has won four titles in Class B and the one in Class C in 2018.

Next up for the Lions is a regional playoff game against Waverly Saturday afternoon at Cicero-North Syracuse High School's Michael J. Bragman Stadium. Waverly defeated Chenango Forks 28-14 in the Section IV title game Friday.

This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Holland Patent routed by General Brown in Section 3 Class C title game

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