CASTILE — It wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t fancy, and it came down to two plays.
Friday night’s contest between the Letchworth Indians and the Cal-Mum Red Raiders was a defensive delight, and when the smoke cleared the Indians were the ones who walked away with the 7-3 win in Livingston Conference D-II action.
The Red Raiders were the first ones to get on the scoreboard, and they took most of the first half to do it.
The two teams banged their way up and down the field for two quarters with neither getting in scoring range, until senior Zach Hinkson drilled a 30-yard field goal with just over two minutes to play before the intermission.
It was more of the same in the second half as the pounding continued with Letchworth sophomore Chris Nevinger providing most of the offense for the Indians, and Cal-Mum junior Tyler Lauffer leading the ground game for the Raiders.
Also key was senior quarterback Mike Anderson, who hit several key third down passes to help keep the chains moving for the Raiders.
Defense still ruled the field until late in the third when a high snap slipped through the fingers of punter Zack Hinkson, and Letchworth took over deep in Raiders’ territory at the 10.
That’s when Nevinger pounded for five yards on first down, two more on second, was held to no gain on third, before a huge fourth down and goal at the three call gave Nevinger the ball one more time as he plunged in for the go-ahead touchdown.
Senior Karter Kutton added the extra point making it a 7-3 game with 57.3 seconds to go in the third quarter.
After a punt exchange, Cal-mum took over at their own 37 with 8:36 to play and put on their best-looking drive of the night behind Lauffer and Anderson, battling their way to a first down at the Letchworth five with 1:31 to play.
That’s when Nevinger was at it again, but this time on the defensive side of the ball as he intercepted an Anderson pass in the end zone to put out the lights for Cal-Mum.
“They were doing the same thing — passing to the flats and it was my drop,” said Nevinger. “I kept missing it, but finally I got it.”
See complete story in Wednesday’s LCN.