Jay Sirianni, Southwestern High School head football coach has been named the Buffalo Bills Coach of the Week for week six of the high school football season after his Trojans clinched the C South Division with a 27-20 win over Fredonia last weekend.
Both teams entered the game undefeated and ranked in the top ten in all of New York State.
"The league championship was on the line and it was a big game," Sirianni said. "We told the kids to take advantage of the opportunity. All eyes in Western New York were on this game so we told them to enjoy the moment and leave it all on the field."
Southwestern jumped out early and led 27-6 but Fredonia scored on the last play of the half to make it 27-13.
"That was a big play," Sirianni said. "That score really got Fredonia back in the game. We had some opportunities in the second half but didn't score. We made enough plays to win."
John Mistretta led the ground attack as he rushed for over 100 yards and a touchdown. The Trojans also played the second half without QB Jim Rauh who left the game with a shoulder injury at the end of the first half. Rauh completed six of seven passes for 166 yards and three touchdowns before he was injured.
"Losing our quarterback really hurt," Sirianni said. "He finished the first half but he couldn't come back."
Rauh is questionable to play next week. Jake Swan moved from wide receiver to quarterback for the second half. Swan had caught three passes for 140 yards and two touchdowns before moving to QB.
"Jake did a nice job" Sirianni said. "We moved the ball, we just didn't score."
The victory is the 35th straight for Southwestern, though Sirianni downplayed the streak.
"We've won six in a row," he said. "This year's team is six and zero."
Fredonia may have given the Trojans their stiffest test throughout the winning streak.
"They are all tough," Sirianni said. "It's not easy to win football games but we really had to earn this one."
Sirianni, who played quarterback at Southwestern, was a back-up quarterback at Mount Union when the team won the national championship in 1996. Sirianni's older brother, Mike, is the head coach at Washington & Jefferson while his younger brother Nick is an offensive assistant with the Kansas City Chiefs.
He has coached Southwestern since 2003 and led the Trojans to four league titles, three Section 6 titles and two New York State championships.
He started his coaching career as an assistant at Maple Grove before moving on to Alfred University. He also coached at Arunbel HS in Maryland before returning to Southwestern as the Trojans head coach.
This is the 14th consecutive year of the Buffalo Bills High School Football Coach of the Week program. Each week during the 11-week high school football season, a committee appointed by the Buffalo Bills selects a head football coach as Coach of the Week.
The honorees will receive an official certificate from the commissioner of the NFL, plus a Bills Coach of the Week cap and a $1,000 donation to the school's football program from the Buffalo Bills Youth Foundation. Recognition of the winning coach will be shown on the Buffalo Bills official website (www.buffalobills.com). At the end of the season, one of the weekly award winners will be named Coach of the Year and will receive an additional $1,000 donation to the school's football program.
2010 Coach of the Week Winners:
Week 1 - Rich Harris (Kenmore West Blue Devils)
Week 2 - Tom Goddard (Clarence Red Devils)
Week 3 - Ed Wilson (McKinley Macks)
Week 4 – Brandon Harris (Canisius Crusaders)
Week 5 – Dennis Gilbert (St. Joe's Marauders)
Week 6 – Jay Sirianni (Southwestern Trojans)
