Mustang JV gridders rally past Panthers

After trailing 22-12 with less than 5 minutes to play, the Medina JV football team was able to mount an impressive comeback against the host Newfane Panthers this morning.

Trailing by 10 points, the Mustangs were able to go 65 yards in 6 plays to cut the deficit to one touchdown.

The drive began with a pass from Jarin Rhim to Tyler Chinn for a gain of 10 yards, which was then followed up with a 30 yard completion from Rhim to Emmanual Taylor.

After an incomplete pass, Bobby Geiger made consecutive runs of 14 and 5 yards to get the ball down to the 6 yard line.

Rhim, who was seeing his first action at QB after started Brian Fry was called up to the varsity squad, then hit his cousin Dontea Rhim for a 6 yard touchdown.

Taylor then added the two point conversion on a run to make the score 22-20.

The Mustangs defense then was able to force a turnover on downs, getting the ball back to the offense with 2:55 left to play in the game.

A 28 yard pass completion from Rhim to Amir Barulich aided the Mustangs in moving down the field to the one yard line.

Taylor then scored the game winning touchdown on a run with 33 seconds left.

The Mustangs ended any hope of a last second comeback by the Panthers as Nathan Neace intercepted a pass that was tipped by Dontea Rhim with 6 seconds left to play.

Medina’s earlier touchdowns in the game came on a run by Bobby Geiger in the 2nd quarter and a pass from Rhim to Barulich in the 3rd quarter.

Rhim finished his debut 11-16 through the air for 127 yards, while Geiger added 138 rushing yards.

Taylor finished with 42 receiving yards, Tyler Chinn 40, and Barulich 32.

Newfane’s touchdowns came on passes from Garrett Srock to Josh Everett and Carson Winquist, and a run by Nik Volker.

The JV Mustangs, now 2-1, will next be in action on Thursday night at 6 p.m. against the Lackawanna Steelers at Vets Stadium in Lackawanna.