SWS Bluegolds are conference football champs!

THE SWS BLUE-GOLDS assembled for a photo-graph with their coaches after winning the undis-puted Ridge & Valley Con-ference Championship by defeating the Riverdale Chieftans on Friday, Oct. 13. With the victory, the Blue-Golds posted an un-defeated 6-0 record in the conference.

champs sen fba — THE SWS BLUE-GOLDS assembled for a photo-graph with their coaches after winning the undis-puted Ridge & Valley Con-ference Championship by defeating the Riverdale Chieftans on Friday, Oct. 13. With the victory, the Blue-Golds posted an un-defeated 6-0 record in the conference.

SENECA-WAUZEKA-STEUBEN - In just three seasons, the Seneca-Wauzeka-Steuben co-op football team went from a winless season in 2015 to winning the undisputed Ridge and Valley Conference Championship last Friday.

The outcome of the game was never much in doubt last Friday. The SWS Blue-Golds blanked the visiting Riverdale Chieftains 28-0.

SWS quarterback Jared Payne scored a touchdown in the first quarter on a 12-yard run. With the extra point, the Blue-Golds led 7-0.

Blue-Golds running back Noah Allan scored a touchdown on a 64-yard pass play from Payne in the second quarter. With the extra point, SWS led Riverdale 14-0 going into the locker room for halftime.

The 14-0 score held until the fourth quarter. That’s when SWS running back Isaac Byrne scored two touchdowns on runs of two and three yards. Seneca converted extra points on both to make it 28-0, which would be the final score in the game.

As might be expected, SWS head coach Justin Goodrich was pretty upbeat following the win and the undisputed conference championship.

“Our offense was very well balanced with a good running and passing attack,” Goodrich said after the game. “Our defense swarmed to the ball and did not give up big plays.

“I am extremely proud of our team for being the outright Ridge & Valley Conference Champions,” Goodrich said. “Now, we need to come out Friday night fired up and ready to play against DeSoto.”

For the game, SWS had 412 yards in total offense to just 122 for Riverdale.

The Blue-Golds gained 221 yards rushing on 37 carries, while the Chieftains gained just 96 yards on 41 carries and it was quarterback Caleb Johnson carrying the ball 19 times for 86 of those yards. SWS was led in rushing by Allan, who gained 125 yards on 10 carries. Byrne gained 30 yards on 10 carries including the two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

SWS quarterback Jared Payne had a good day passing. He was 8-13 for 191 yards and one touchdown. Riverdale’s Johnson was 3-16 for 26 yards. SWS was led in receiving by Allan, who caught three passes for 94 yards and a touchdown. However, Blee-Golds receiver Braden Folbrecht also had a good day. He caught three passes for 86 yards.

This Friday, Oct. 20 the SWS Blue-Golds will host the DeSoto Pirates at the Seneca field for the first round of the WIAA Division 7 Playoffs. Game time is 7 p.m.