Improvement marked football season

by Eric Keppeler
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, November 25, 2006

A dramatic turnaround in the standings was the highlight of the season for the Lewiston-Porter football team.

Just one year removed from the team that suffered through a winless campaign in 2005, the Lancers posted the greatest single-season improvement in school history by rolling up a 5-4 record a year later.

Lew-Port coach Brian Gunby says the cause of the turnaround is no secret.

“A lot of it is the kids,” Gunby said. “We had 13 seniors who weren’t happy about what happened the season before, and they wanted to do something about it. Even the four games we lost were close. We were in every game this year. The kids just didn’t want to lose, and I’m glad they were really able to enjoy themselves.”

There was actually a bit of confusion about the team’s final record.

Lew-Port’s opponent in Week Seven of the regular season – Class A-North rival Williamsville South – had to postpone the game because of the October snowstorm and resulting massive power failure, which was particularly severe in Amherst. But South decided not to make up the Lew-Port game, and the Lancers were awarded a forfeit after the season had ended.

“The coaches discussed it at the year-end meeting,” Gunby said. “Everyone who was there agreed that it should be a forfeit, although the South coach was not present. But they had to forfeit another game anyway because of ineligible players, so we figured that our game should be a forfeit, too.”

There were plenty of highlights on the field for the Lancers, and that was reflected in the selection of the Class A-North all-stars. In all, Lew-Port wound up with nine league all-stars.

Senior linemen Pete Violante and Pat Linanne earned first team honors, while senior tailback Andy Nowocien made the second team. Drawing honorable mention were senior quarterback Dave LaChance, senior wide receiver Steve Stanley, junior linebacker Vinny Gambino, junior lineman Steve Zasucha, senior linebacker Dom Massaro and senior lineman Brent Atkinson.

Offensively, Nowocien led the team with 714 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns, while LaChance wound up with 611 yards and five TDs through the air. Stanley was the team’s top receiver with 276 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Defensively, Violante led the team in tackles with 72, and Linanne tied a school record with 10 sacks, now sharing the mark with 2003 grad Alex Palumbo.

The trick now is to continue the trend of improvement and prove that 2005 was the aberration.

That won’t be easy after losing a baker’s dozen to graduation, including seven two-way starters, but Gunby says his younger players are up to the challenge.

“We’re losing 13 seniors this year, but we’ll still have about 20 players coming back,” Gunby said. “We’ll have a lot of experience, especially on the offensive and defensive lines. We’ll have a lot of players who may not have started and played every minute, but they saw extensive playing time. Now they have to understand that they’re the leaders of the team, and they have to accept that role.”