High school football: Guided by Zehr at quarterback, Lowville routs Bishop Ludden-Grimes/SAS to claim second consecutive Section 3 crown

SYRACUSE — Toran Zehr and his Lowville football teammates undertook a daunting and challenging mission entering this season to deliver another sectional title.On Saturday, the Red Raiders achieved just this, securing a repeat championship in emphatic fashion.In what proved to be a historic day, top-seeded Lowville dominated on both sides of the ball en route to recording a 43-14 rout of third-seeded Bishop Ludden-Grimes/SAS in the Class C final on Saturday with many of their faithful in attendance at the JMA Wireless Dome.With the triumph, the Red Raiders won their second consecutive Section 3 championship, a program first, improving to 10-1 on season. Last year, they claimed the sectional crown in Class D.“Hey man, it feels great,” Zehr said. “Especially being an underclassman and getting to do this twice. And it’s great, these seniors are crazy athletes, they all come down here, and every game they’re ready to perform their best.”“I’m having trouble putting it into words right now,” Lowville senior running back Cole Zubrzycki said. “Going to the Dome as a team and winning back to back, it’s something that you dream about.”Zehr, a sophomore quarterback, threw for a touchdown in the first half and went on to run for a pair of scores to help spark Lowville.Displaying balance they’ve generated throughout the season, Zubrzycki, Ethan Myers and Caleb Farney each ran for a touchdown for the Red Raiders.“We’ve got awesome chemistry,” Zubrzycki said. “We like to always have a little bit of competition, but it’s always friendly because that’s what we’ve to do. We push each other to get better and get it done.”“It’s unbelievable,” Myers, who is also a senior, said. “The first team in school history to win back-to-back sectional championships, so it’s really awesome.”Lowville also successfully shut down a speedy Gaelic Knights team for most of the day, delivering swarming defensive play.“This is special,” Lowville coach Josh Coffman said. “This is a special group and they really showed that today. It’s just awesome what they’ve been able to achieve.”Slade Nortz would provide his team with an early lift by intercepting a pass in the first quarter for the Red Raiders.Lowville broke through on their second possession of the game as Zubrzycki hauled in a 66-yard catch, speeding down the right sideline from midfield to the Bishop Ludden-Grimes/SAS 17-yard line.Then with Lowville facing a fourth-and-long, Zehr connected with Carson Kempney, who was wide open in the left side of the end zone and hauled in an 18-yard scoring catch to cap a 90-yard drive in nine plays. After Nolan Roes ran in the conversion run the Red Raiders led 8-0 just six seconds into the second quarter.“That was good, especially since we had somewhat of a slow start in the first quarter,” Zehr said. “I think just getting that really lifted us up.”Following a Bishop Ludden-Grimes/SAS punt, the Red Raiders methodically moved the ball down the field in generating a 10-play drive finished off by a one-yard scoring surge from Zubrzycki to extend the lead to 14-0.Lowville made their last possession of the first half count as well as Zehr scored on a 21-yard scamper on a keeper to the left side, lunging into the end zone. Zehr then ran in the conversion attempt to boost the advantage to 22-0 with 1:13 left in the half.“Toran is one of those guys who always makes plays when you need one,” Zubrzycki said. “He’s just a great athlete, I trust him with the ball, any point in the game, any situation, I always trust him with the ball.”“It was a great team effort, I think our blocking was great,” Zehr said. “And the defense played great.”The Red Raiders picked up where they left off as they drove 65 yards in 11 plays, capped by a 16-yard touchdown run from Zehr to extend the advantage to 29-0 with 7:41 left in the third quarter.“Cole and Ethan have helped me a lot through these two years, mentoring me and making sure I’m doing the right stuff — and really challenging me,” Zehr said.“We’ve been so successful with Cole and Ethan and Caleb running the ball, we’ve been kind of hesitant with Toran who’s a pretty important part of the team,” Coffman said. “He doesn’t play any defense for us and he’s a tremendous defender and a great tackler. We haven’t really used him in the running game nearly as much as he’s capable of, but he did really well for us.”Myers would add a 31-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to push the lead to 36-0.After Bishop Ludden-Grimes/SAS broke through for a touchdown on a 44-yard touchdown throw from Taveon Sledge to J’Shon Goolsby, Farney later scored on a six-yard run for Lowville boost the lead to 43-7.Lowville, which is ranked No. 5 in the state, competed in its second straight sectional final, also a first in program history, and also won its 10th straight game this year.“It feels great, we’re just really trying to represent Lowville at our best,” Zehr said. “I think we did a good job, obviously it’s really cool to do something for the first time in the school’s history.”“For a lot of us right now it’s play or go home,” Zubrzycki said. “So we came in and played our hearts out, we didn’t want to go home without getting this done.”Farney, who plays at linebacker, said: “It’s amazing, we worked all year for it. We put in a lot of time and effort to put it all together. We have a lot of natural athletes, but it took a lot work to really grow as a team.”Bishop Ludden-Grimes/SAS, which won on the road to defeat General Brown in a semifinal last Friday, finishes its season at 10-1.“With their offense, we wanted to keep them in front of us, no big plays,” Coffman said of Bishop Ludden-Grimes/SAS. “Tackle and make them go the length of the field and I think we did that well.”“We’ve got a great defense, a lot of athletic guys who play so well together,” Farney said. “We never give up, we just keep pushing and keep improving.”With the win, Lowville has now extended its mission this season as it will move on to play the Section 4 champion in a state quarterfinal at noon next Saturday at Cicero-North Syracuse High School.“It’s just a special group,” Coffman said. “They’re kind of like my kind of guys, they’re hard-nosed, they’re tough, they come to work each day and sometimes you can’t even tell if they’re excited to be there. They just go, they have that kind of lunch box mentality and as a staff we love coaching them every single day.”Last year, the Red Raiders defeated Dolgeville to win the Class C sectional title before losing in a state quarterfinal to Tioga of Section 4.“With Section 4, it will be our fourth time going down there and playing them,” Coffman said. “Every time it’s the same thing, they play a physical brand of football and it’s just getting our kids to believe. They’ve got to just believe that we can get stops, you’ve got to get forward, you’ve got to get off blocks and all those things, and offensively it’s all about execution and keeping our offense on the field.”