The Buffalo Bills and Legends Global Merchandise are happy to partner to name Paul Carella and Brett Ebling as the coaches of the week for the Rochester and Buffalo regions for week 9 of the high school football season.
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 course of 11 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
Brockport coach Paul Carella has been named the Rochester region Coach of the Week after his Blue Devils upset defending champion Rochester East 45-42 in the first round of the Class A playoffs. East entered the game 6-2 and ranked 9th in NYS.
The game was back-and-forth and was tied 35-35 at the end of four quarters. The teams then played two overtime possessions.
Brockport led 35-21 in the fourth quarter, but East scored two late touchdowns to tie the game at 35-35. Brockport missed a field goal on the last play that sent the game to overtime.
In the first overtime Brockport scored to take a 42-35 lead when QB Landon Scott ran five yards for a touchdown. East responded with a touchdown of their own.
Brockport was on defense in the second overtime and freshman DE Wesley Childs intercepted a pass ending the East possession.
Brockport ran three running plays before kicking a 30-yard field goal to win the game.
Scott accounted for six touchdowns in the win. The senior QB completed 15-of-20 passes for 301 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also ran 15 times for 72 yards and 4 more TDs. Senior Tyler Judd caught 6 passes for 161 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Brockport is now 6-3 and will play at Canandaigua on Friday in the Section 5 Class A semifinals.
This is Carella's first year as the head coach of the Brockport program. He has been an assistant coach on staff since 2004 in multiple different roles.
Carella's coaching philosophy involves making sure that the experience of playing football has the same impact on the athletes' lives that it had for him. He preaches how football is different as what you put into football and what you gain from football is unlike any other sport.
Buffalo Region Coach of the Week
Gowanda coach Brett Ebling was named the Buffalo region Coach of the Week after leading the Panthers to a 31-20 win over Wilson in the first round of the Class D playoffs.
"The town is excited," Ebling said. "Gowanda is a small town, but we have a great little league program, and they love football here."
After a scoreless first quarter, Gowanda exploded for three touchdowns in the second frame.
Gowanda scored first when QB Carter Capozzi tossed a 33-yard touchdown pass to Trelin Warrior and the Panthers led 7-0. Capozzi then hit Winter Rivera with a 35-yard touchdown pass and Gowanda led 13-0.
Late in the half, Capozzi hit Warrior for another touchdown, this one covering 14 yards to give the Panthers their 19-0 lead at the break.
Ebling addressed his players at the half.
"I told them to just keep working," Ebling said. "It doesn't matter if we are up or down, just keep playing hard."
The Panthers scored twice in the third quarter to increase the lead to 31-0 and put the game away.
Winter Mentley-Peters ran 20 yards for a touchdown before Capozzi tossed another touchdown pass to Rivera for a 33-yard scoring play.
It was the first playoff victory for Gowanda since 2016.
"We've had an up-and-down program since then," Ebling said. "We had a couple of good teams, but we had a problem with numbers."
The most recent seasons have been tough to stay positive about.
"We had to forfeit numerous games," Ebling said. "We almost folded the program."
Ebling has been on staff at Gowanda since the 2014 season. He was hired as a full-time teacher at the school in 2017.
"It was awful," he said. "We were completely at the bottom of Section 6. We would walk out on the first day of practice with 18 or 19 kids."
Gowanda was winless for two straight seasons, with a losing streak that reached 16 games.
"Then we won 3 games," Ebling said. "But we only had 20 kids on the team. We had to forfeit a couple games."
Incredibly, Gowanda even had to forfeit a game at halftime.
"We were at Fredonia," Ebling said. "We had 18 kids at the start of the game, and we had 4 or 5 kids go down."
Ebling was named the head coach before the 2022 season and immediately went about recruiting players.
"Participation and numbers was the first thing," Ebling said. "We had to get that up."
Ebling, who is a Middle School Physical Education teacher for Gowanda, immediately started promoting the football team to his own students.
He started a fifth-and-sixth grade football club in which varsity players came to help. More than 30 elementary school kids participated last spring.
The program started showing improvement at the end of the 2022 season. Last year, the Panthers finished 4-4 and made the playoffs.
"We currently have 30 on the varsity and 42 on the modified," Ebling said. "Winning helps but mostly it's just going to talk kids into coming out for the team. It helps if the young kids are getting interested."
Working in the Middle School helps Ebling promote his program.
"I've known my seniors when they were in the 5th grade," he said. "I had some of them as a student teacher in the 1st or 2nd grade."
Ebling played high school football at Eden and was named a first team all-star at linebacker.
He attended Brockport State to earn his teaching degree. He and his fiancée Rachel will be married next April.
His coaching philosophy is to make each player the best player on and off the field. He believes that hard work and effort are huge keys to football and everyday life.
"I chose to be a coach because I wanted to help kids be the best they can be, like my coaches growing up pushed me," he said.
