Senior running back Brian Finn gashes the Batavia Blue Devil defense as he amassed 184 yards and two touchdowns during the Cougars’ 43-14 victory in the Section V Class B Semifinal. HF-L will play the Monroe Red Jackets in the Class B Championship this Saturday at Rush-Henrietta. See page 7 for the Sentinel’s recap of the game. Photo by Peter Carosa
The Honeoye Falls-Lima Varsity Football team went to Batavia to open the 2025 season and lost 41-21 but when the Cougars went to Batavia this past Friday night, it was HF-L’s turn to have a big night on offense and it came with the season on the line: win or go home.
HF-L, seeded #3, routed #2 Batavia 43-14 in the Section V Class B Tournament semifinal on November 7. The Cougars’ defense stymied the Blue Devils on Batavia’s first possession after the opening kickoff, denying the Blue Devils on a fourth-and-10 at the Batavia 34 yard line. HF-L needed just six plays to hit paydirt when Bennett Feinberg scored on a two-yard touchdown run. Ezra Gathercole made the extra-point kick for a 7-0 lead with 5:35 remaining in the first quarter. Batavia answered back, needing just three plays on its second drive of the game to find the end zone when a Blue Devil raced 43 yards for a TD. HF-L’s defense held the Blue Devils out of the end zone on the two-point try to preserve a 7-6 lead with 3:54 left in the first quarter.
The Cougars followed that with a 10-play drive that chewed up the rest of the first quarter and first few seconds of the second quarter. Marco Vengoechea scored on a 3-yard touchdown run down the left sideline. Gathercole’s extra point kick gave HF-L a 14-6 lead with 11:19 left in the second quarter. HF-L extended the lead to 17-6 with 7:04 left in the second quarter when Gathercole converted a 28 yard field goal to culminate a six-play drive after stopping Batavia on a fourth-and-15 play. A Cougar fumble ended another promising drive but Vengoechea intercepted a Blue Devil pass just before halftime to keep the Cougars ahead 17-6 at halftime.
“Ezra’s field goal was into the wind,” coach John Russ said. “Our game plan was to run the football and, with the wind and rain, we ran it even more than what we had planned.”
HF-L took the opening kickoff of the second half and went 10 plays over the first five minutes of the third quarter before finding the end zone again. This time, Nate Meacham hooked up with Austin Coyle for a 19-yard TD pass. Gathercole’s extra-point kick made the score 24-6 with 7:03 left in the third quarter. The Blue Devils ended a seven-play drive with a four-yard touchdown run and was successful with a two-point run to pull within 24-14 with 4:14 remaining in the third quarter. The following kickoff was a short one so the Cougar offense took over at the Batavia 46. Vengoechea took a handoff and swept around the left side of the HF-L offensive line and down the sideline for the 46-yard touchdown run. This time, however, Gathercole’s extra-point kick was no good so that left the team with a 30-14 advantage with 3:59 left in the third quarter.
The Cougars stopped Batavia’s offense early in the fourth quarter to get the ball back. Five plays later, Brian Finn rambled 38 yards for a touchdown. A two-point conversion run was not successful but the Cougars boosted their lead to 36-14 with 8:29 left in the game. Finn added the team’s last touchdown on an eight-yard run and Gathercole made the extra-point kick late in the game for the final margin.
“Our offensive line had a great game,” Russ said. “The kids played well and having the extra week and also plenty of game film on Batavia enabled us to have a great game plan in place and the kids executed in all phases of the game. Brian had success early on, hitting the holes well, so we rode with it. Having Marco back allowed us to run our Jet Sweep.”
HF-L’s offense piled up 307 yards with 286 of that coming on the ground. Finn gained 184 yards on 21 carries. Vengoechea rushed three times for 65 yards and Feinberg six times for 37 yards. Meacham completed 2-of-3 passes for 21 yards with Coyle having one catch for 19 yards and Grady Goodberlet one catch for 2 yards. The Cougar defensive effort was highlighted by Vengoechea’s interception and a fumble recovery by Wyatt Wieboldt.
“Wyatt has rotated in on the defensive line and has done well; he has a bright future next year for us,” Russ said. “Our defense has a bend, don’t break philosophy and we forced them into a lot of fourth down situations that they didn’t convert. I feel the kids deserve the chance to play for the championship since they have played well all season even though we have five losses.”
HF-L will take on #1 seed Monroe for the Section V Class B Championship on November 15 at 3 p.m. at Rush-Henrietta High School.
