Hornell hands Bath its first loss
BY BOB BENZ THE LEADER

BATH - The Bath Haverling Rams are no strangers to blowouts this season, winning four of their first five games by at least 32 points and another by 18 points.

Saturday, though, Oct. 6, the Rams suffered their first loss of the season and this time, were on the wrong side of a rout.

And for the second straight year, it was bitter rival Hornell delivering Bath its first loss. Not surprisingly, the visiting Red Raiders rode the legs of Section V's all-time leading rusher - senior David Zapata - to a convincing 35- 13 victory to spoil Bath's Homecoming game.

Zapata racked up 174 yards and three touch downs on the ground on 36 carries, almost a year to the day after torching Bath for 190 yards in Hornell's 28-14 victory in 2006.

"Two years in a row, I thought maybe we could stop Zapata, but I don't know if you call (174) yards stopping him," Bath head coach Wayne Carroll said.

As dominant as Hornell looked as a team, it was Zapata who ignited the Red Raiders with touch down runs of 5, 12 and 1, which helped the Red Raiders put the game out of reach before the fourth quarter had even started.

"I thought maybe this year, we might be able to handle (Hornell), but we could not handle them," Carroll said. "We could not handle them on the pass and we really didn't stop Zapata. (Hornell) played really well. (Ryne) Hunt was outstanding against us and (quarterback D.J.) Schwartz made some big plays."

Unfortunately for the Rams, the only big plays they made were few and far between.

Although things looked promising for Bath early after senior running back Andre McCloud capped the game's opening possession with an eight-yard touchdown run, the Rams' offense was stymied for much of the rest of the way.

Hornell answered McCloud's first score with a methodical 10-play, 71-yard march that Zapata finished with a five-yard touchdown run to tie the score.

Four more Red Raiders touchdowns later, the Rams were looking up from a 35-7 deficit late in the third quarter.

Bath found the end zone once more as Brett Havens took a screen pass from quarterback Jake Kuver and rumbled in for a 28-yard touchdown with 7:04 left in the fourth.

The Rams had a brief glimmer of hope after recovering a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, but turned the ball over on the first play of its next possession on an interception from Jesse Dellapenna.

Anthony Acor also thwarted a Bath drive in Hornell territory with an interception, the second of three for the Red Raiders, who forced four turnovers for the game.

Defensively, the Red Raiders were in Kuver's face for most the game, making life difficult for the 6-foot senior signal caller.

More impressive, though, was the fact Hornell held the normally-elusive McCloud to just two yards rushing on 10 carries. Havens led Bath on the ground with 66 yards on seven carries.

Hornell led 21-7 at halftime thanks to three first-quarter touchdowns, the last of which was a 74- yard touchdown connection from D.J. Schwartz to Eric Davidson. Schwartz was very efficient, completing 6- of-9 passes for 166 yards and a touchdown.

"I thought our kids played really hard against a quality opponent," Hornell head coach Gene Mastin said. "We've gotten a little bit better every week that we've played. As the season started and we got to this point it became a game that we really wanted to peak for. There wasn't a kid on the team that didn't play hard today."

After Zapata's third touchdown run, the Red Raiders made it 35-7 when Nate Brown returned a fumble off a completed pass 35 yards for the score.

"We gave them a lot of looks and kept trying to put fresh people in," Mastin said. "When you play Bath, you're playing against one of the most physical fronts in Western New York and I just think that our kids were up to the challenge. They fought hard every down."

Defensively, Bath was led by T.C. Carroll's 14 tackles. Eric Argentieri finished with 10 tackles, while Cody Hutcheson, Tyree McCloud and Sam Musso each registered eight tackles.

"It doesn't get any easier for us because we've got to play Cal-Mum, who is a very good football team,," Carroll said. "We really lost the 1 seed. It's a carbon copy of last season. The same thing happened to us last year."

Carroll had no trouble admitting Hornell is the best team he's seen this season.

"We've scrimmaged some really good teams," Carroll said. "We've scrimmaged Corning East and (Hornell is) definitely the best team we've faced. They're good. I didn't realize physically how big they were until I stood on the field with them. They're big."