It's Week 7 of the high school football season in Western New York and the Buffalo Bills and Legends Global Merchandising are happy to partner to recognize the top coaches in the region through the 2024 High School Football Coach of the Week program.
Aimed at highlighting varsity head tackle football coaches' efforts on and off the field, coaches from both the Buffalo and Rochester regions will be honored over the next 10 weeks and will receive $1,000 for their teams. Each region's Coach of the Year will be named during the Week 17 game against the New York Jets and will receive an additional $1,000 for their programs.
Rochester Region Coach of the Week
LeRoy/Caledonia-Mumford coach Mike Humphrey was named the Buffalo Bills Coach of the Week after leading the Rivals to a 40-14 win over Hornell.
In the win over Hornell, LCM led 33-0 at the half. The Rivals did not punt in the first half as they built their lead.
Jack Egeling led the ground attack as he ran 18 times for 267 yards and four touchdowns. QB Brady McClurg completed 6-of-6 passes for 100 yards. Jace Jedrewski led the defense with seven tackles, two for lost yardage and senior Jude Sherman returned from a season-long injury and intercepted a pass in his first game of the season.
LCM is now 4-3 on the season and have clinched a Class C playoff spot. They will finish the season with a game at East Rochester on Friday.
Cal-Mum and LeRoy once had one of the oldest rivalries in the nation - the teams had played each other since the late 1800s. However, the schools were forced to merge into one program prior to the start of the 2024 high school football season as the rosters have dwindled.
"It was a tough pill to swallow for a lot of old-time fans," Humphrey said. "It really is kind of sad but it's also necessary for a number of reasons."
Humphrey, who played in the rivalry as a member of the LeRoy Oatkan Knights, said that his players took news of the merger better than alumni.
"These kids haven't played each other in a rivalry game in 10 years," Humphrey said, "so, to them, the merger wasn't really anything. It's a rivalry that I remember, but it wasn't a huge part of their upbringing. They became one unit quicker than I ever expected. It's worked out much better than I ever thought it would."
Humphrey became the head coach of LeRoy last season after being a program assistant for the previous 10 years. In his first year as head coach, LeRoy had an 11-1 record and won the Class C Section V title before losing in the state playoffs.
Humphrey's coaching philosophy utilizes football as a tool to help teenagers grown into young men. He believes in working hard, doing what you're told and do not make excuses. He loves working with kids and he loves football so coaching and teaching were natural choices for him.
Away from the field of play, Humphrey and his team participate in the Walk of Hope.
Buffalo Region Coach of the Week
Sweet Home coach Jeremy Zimmer was named the Buffalo Bills Coach of the Week after leading the Panthers to a 14-7 win over Starpoint last week on their Senior Night.
"Starpoint played tough," Zimmer said. "I give them a ton of credit. They played keep-away, just running the ball and kept the ball away from us. The Starpoint kids are well-coached and played hard. It was a great high school football game."
With the win, the Panthers clinched the A-2 Division for the first time since 2015.
"It's been a long time," Zimmer said. "We had a couple of years where we had a chance but didn't get it done."
Sweet Home opened scoring in the first quarter when Rocco Panepinto tossed a 36-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Carroll to give the Panthers a 6-0 lead. Starpoint answered early in the second quarter when the Spartans ended a drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to pull ahead 7-6.
Starpoint led 7-6 at the half. It was the first time Sweet Home had trailed at the half since Week 1 when they played Orchard Park.
In the locker room Zimmer had some quiet words with his players.
"Our kids were a little too high strung and excited," Zimmer said. "They knew what was on the line. It was Senior Night. They were just too tense."
In the second half, Starpoint lined up in a running formation and tried to surprise the Panthers by throwing a deep pass, but Nyzere Richardson intercepted the pass. Late in the third quarter, Sweet Home began to drive down the field. On fourth-and-goal from the 5-yard line, Panepinto evaded a blitz and tossed a pass to Daquan Stone. The senior running back caught the ball and was tackled on the goal-line but reached the ball across for a touchdown.
Panepinto approached Zimmer and said that he wanted to run a short pass play.
"I have a lot of trust in Rocco," Zimmer said. "He told me he wanted to run a certain play, and I told him to go with it."
Zimmer's faith in his QB was rewarded when Panepinto tossed a 2-point PAT pass to Niear Patterson and gave the Panthers the 14-7 lead.
"Rocco has been here three years, and we are on the same page," Zimmer said. "There are 5 or 6 times each game that he sees our play isn't going to work. He's a smart kid and he's usually right so I roll with it."
The Panthers defense stopped two Starpoint drives to nail down the win, including a drive when the Spartans reached the Panthers' 10-yard line.
"Our defense played spectacular," Zimmer said, "especially on the last drive. They've been playing great."
Sweet Home will end the season when they play Amherst in the Big Cat Rivalry on Saturday.
"We've had a rivalry game for the last 6 years now," Zimmer said. "We have a trophy with a Tiger on one side and a Panther on the other. We've built it up with the players and the students. Both teams come out hard and it's a lot of fun."
In addition to it being Senior Night, adding to the excitement of the game was that former Buffalo Bills WR Stevie Johnson visited the team before their game on Friday.
"We gave him a Sweet Home hoodie," Zimmer said, "and our kids all signed it for him."
Zimmer was hired at Sweet Home in 1998 and began coaching in the fall of 1999. He coached as a modified, freshman, JV and varsity assistant before being named the head varsity coach before the 2018 season.
His coaching philosophy is to develop young men of character who will be good students, sons, and future husbands and fathers.
"It is my hope that the lessons that they learn through the game of football will stay with them throughout their life," Zimmer said.
He preaches "WE OVER ME" to his team as everything they do goes back to that motto.
Away from the field, the Panthers visit elementary schools and participate in leadership programs with the elementary school students.
