Rams posted second playoff shutout
BY SHAWN VARGO THE LEADER

ROCHESTER - Bath Haverling's Andre McCloud rushed for three second quarter touchdowns and added a 42-yard punt return for a score to help lead the Rams to a 41-0 win over Marcus Whitman in their Section V, Class B semifinal game at Paetec Park on Sunday, Oct. 28.

With the win, Bath (8-1) will vie for its first sectional title since 2003. The secondseeded Rams will face No. 5 Geneva, which defeated No. 1 Hornell 34-12 in the day's opening contest.

Bath, which won its quarterfinal game against Waterloo 46-0, has now outscored its playoff opponents 87-0.

"I'm very shocked at the score. I watched Marcus Whitman play against East Rochester and that's a good football team," Bath coach Wayne Carroll said. "We played a pretty good football team today and we played hard. I thought it would be a one touchdown game, but I'm very happy with the outcome."

The Rams actually got off to a slow start on the artificial turf surface that was wet from afternoon showers. Following a nine-yard punt, Marcus Whitman took over on the Rams' 42-yard line.

On their second play, the Wildcats' Jurrell Thompson took his team into the red zone with a 23-yard run - the longest play allowed by the Rams in the playoffs. Marcus Whitman then shot itself in the foot by snapping the ball over quarterback Jordan Hathorn's head while in shotgun formation for a 16-yard loss, which brought the drive to a screeching halt.

Bath's Nick Carroll made a head's up play on the ensuing punt that went off the side of the kicker's foot. Carroll plucked the ball - which only traveled six yards - out of the air and returned it to the Wildcats' 44-yard line.

The Rams needed just four plays to score. Brett Havens covered much of the distance with a 35-yard run, before quarterback Jake Kuver bootlegged right for a 5-yard TD.

"The line stepped up today and made the big holes for the running backs and it made it easy to run people over," Havens said.

Bath's second scoring drive was textbook Rams football - 10 plays, covering 76 yards and capped by a 10- yard run from McCloud. The key play was a 33-yard draw play run from Cody Hutcheson on a third-and- 17.

McCloud then added touch down runs of 5 and 55 yards as Bath took a 28-0 lead into the intermission. McCloud led the way with 143 of Bath's 301 first half rushing yards.

"Our line came to play and we just got it done today," McCloud said.

"The offensive line came to play today - Craig Chissom, BenChissom, Eric Argentieri, Mark Bart and Drew Seager - those five guys really pushed them around today," Carroll said. "I'm really happy with that offensive line."

After the break, Bath's defense took over where it left off - by stopping Marcus Whitman cold as Hutcheson picked off Hathorn.

With little doubt as to how the game would end up, both teams spent much of the second half racking up penalty yards. Bath was whistled 10 times for 130 yards, while Marcus Whitman was flagged for 52 yards.

"It was a very physical game - they were hitting out there," Wayne Carroll said. "There were some personal fouls and we need to clean that up, but otherwise we played an excellent football game."

Havens scored Bath's last offensive touchdown with a 3-yard run in the fourth quarter. Havens finished with 125 yards on 17 carries. McCloud, who finished with 170 yards rushing, tacked on the final points of the day by returning a punt 42 yards - high lighted by his hopping over the punter at the goal line.

With the rare Sunday outing, Bath will have one less day to prep for Geneva, whose running back Jerimiah Allen rushed for 319 yards and four touch downs on 29 carries against the Red Raiders.

"Geneva is just a real good football team. Hornell has a lot of speed, but Geneva had more today," Wayne Carroll said.

Even with less time, expect the Rams to be ready to play.

"We've been going pretty hard. We've been wanting it for a long time," McCloud said of playing for a sectional championship. "We've been dreaming about this since we were little."

The Sectional game was played Saturday, Nov. 3. Results will be published next Sunday, Nov. 11.