High school football: General Brown overcomes scare, injury to advance to Section 3 semifinals

Oct. 28—DEXTER — The General Brown football team successfully opened the playoff portion of the defense of its Section 3 championship with a dominant victory over Solvay.

Yet the win wasn't without some suspense on Friday night as the team endured a scary moment in the second half when sophomore running back Drew Pauly went down with an injury and was taken away by ambulance to Samaritan Medical Center.

Undaunted, the second-seeded Lions went on finish off a 35-6 triumph over the seventh-seeded Bearcats in a Section 3 Class C quarterfinal played at Fisher Field.

General Brown later received word that Pauly was doing fine after suffering what head coach Doug Black said was an "upper-back injury."

Senior quarterback Aiden McManaman threw for a pair of touchdown passes — both to sophomore wing back Douglas Jarvie — and Pauly and fellow sophomore Cam Thomas, as well as freshman Jackson Ward each ran for a score for General Brown, which improved to 6-2 on the season.

With the win, the Lions also secured home field for the semifinals as they will host third-seeded Skaneateles next Friday night.

"We knew they were going to be pretty physical, that's what their M.O. is as far as they like to run the ball down hill," Black said of Solvay. "So we knew it was going to be a tough game and a four-quarter game and I think our kids' conditioning showed and composure showed."

Against Solvay, General Brown built a 20-6 advantage through the first half on an 11-yard scoring run from Pauly and two touchdown catches from Jarvie, including an 11-yard scoring reception as time expired in the second quarter.

"To go up two scores before halftime was big, to give us a little bit of a cushion," Black said. "And to come out after Drew Pauly went down, for the kids to really step up and kind of take the emotion out of it and just play football, that was great."

After the Lions made a defensive stand at their own 22-yard line to hold off the Bearcats on their first possession of the second half, Pauly was injured four plays later while running with the ball.

Following a nearly 20-minute delay, Pauly was taken away by ambulance, but General Brown later received good news that he was OK.

"We already received word, it was an upper-back injury, so it wasn't to the head," Black said after the game. "None of that stuff, and a lot of that stuff was precautions, so we're good."

"It was scary, it looked like kind of what Tua Tagovailoa went through, he just had his hands in front of his face there," McManaman said of Pauly. "We were trying to get him to get up, but he just wouldn't move, it just was really scary. Seeing a brother go down just really sucks. But we got an update, he was doing better in the ambulance, so hopefully he gets a speedy recovery and we get to see him again."

After again halting Solvay deep in their own territory and with McManaman sidelined because of leg cramps, Thomas finished off a 13-play drive which covered 69 yards with a one-yard touchdown plunge, and after Ward connected with Jarvie on the conversion pass, the Lions led 28-6 with 5 minutes and 10 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

"We have a lot of sophomores and at the end we had a freshman quarterback that had to go in due to cramping," Black said, "So they got some good exposure as to what playoff football looks like, so I think it was a good first step for us."

Senior Ryan Chamberlain then helped seal the win by recording an interception on Solvay's next possession with 4:13 remaining.

"Coach Shaw, he does a tremendous job with our defense and he's got them playing very well," Black said. "They bend, but don't break, they don't give up a lot and they make the other team work for everything they're going to get. So they're playing pretty good right now."

Later Ward, who took over for McManaman at quarterback, completed the scoring with a 22-yard touchdown rush.

"It was a good win for us," said McManaman, who completed six of 12 passes for 87 yards. "I kind of felt I let the team down a little bit there when I went out, but the quarterback that stepped in, he's a ninth grader and he's an absolute stud and got it done."

Earlier, Pauly opened the scoring with an 11-yard scoring run with 25 seconds left in the opening quarter and General Brown led 8-0 after his conversion run.

After the Lions recovered an onsides kick, four plays later Jarvie hauled in a nine-yard touchdown catch and the team led 14-0 after the pass conversion attempt failed.

Solvay (4-4) would pull within 14-6 on quarterback Luis Mojica Jr.'s one-yard scoring run with 3:25 left in the first half, before McManaman connected with Jarvie for their second touchdown of the night.

"Douglas has done a great job for us all year, he's a great athlete and he's only scratching the surface on what he's capable of, he's only a junior," Black said. "So, he's one of those kids who improves every day."

"It was great," Jarvie said. "I know the team, they had some great blocking and Aiden, he threw me some great passes. So I really didn't have to do much, the ball came right to me and the line was blocking well."

Jarvie made four catches on the night to total 60 receiving yards and also rushed for 65 yards on 11 carries. Pauly led the ground game with 74 yards on 11 touches and Thomas finished with 58 yards on 17 carries.

General Brown will now get a chance to host a sectional semifinal as it will face Skaneateles, which defeated visiting Lowville, 26-20, on Friday night.

"It's pretty cool switching it up and not playing at CN-S, it's definitely going to be cool playing in our environment one more time," McManaman said. "I know it's going to be our last home game for us seniors, so we've just got to play our heart out and leave it all on the field."

"I think a lot of small things to fix like there would be with a young team," Black said. "But I think they're continuing to get better each week and that's all we can ask out of them. It's going to be another tough test against Skaneateles, we're going to have to play better to go against them, they're going to be even bigger."

Last year, the Lions traveled to Cicero-North Syracuse to play Cazenovia in a Class C semifinal. General Brown beat the Lakers, and then Holland Patent in the sectional final at the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse en route to reaching the first state championship game in program history.

"I think we need to just keep working, just keep improving," Chamberlain said. "It's just another opportunity, another week, but we're looking forward to it."

Black later added about Pauly: "He's doing fine and his movement is good."