PREP FOOTBALL Hubbard shuts down defending champs

Shaun Lane's touchdown run was the difference against Bedford Chanel.
By JOHN BASSETTI
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
HUBBARD -- It was an all-junior scoring cast Friday night.
Shaun Lane's 23-yard touchdown run and Chris Buccilli's point-after kick in the first quarter gave Hubbard High the points it needed to beat defending Division V state champion Bedford Chanel 7-0 at Hubbard Stadium.
"A very big win," Hubbard coach Jeff Bayuk said. "When you're coming off of a season like we had last year with a lot of young kids returning, you don't know what to expect."
"We were really concerned about our defense," Bayuk said, "but [assistant] Mickey Sikora had them ready again. He and Ron DeJulio do a great job with our defense."
New uniform
It was Lane's first tally at Hubbard after playing at Woodrow Wilson last season.
Buccilli, also the fullback, has moved up to first team in both roles since 2001.
Because Lane was busy churning out 108 yards on 20 carries, the Eagles were able to eat up time on the clock. But Hubbard was limited in where it had success.
"It was pretty hard to do a lot of things on the perimeter because they had a lot of speed," Bayuk said.
Lane's touchdown run was over left tackle Steve Mort, with left guard Brian Falhamer and tight end Jacoby Morris helping.
Bayuk said the off-tackle run by the tailback is one of the Eagles' staple plays.
Lane burst through the hole at the line of scrimmage and then cut right toward the end zone with 2:15 remaining in the first quarter.
"It was God and my linemen," Lane said of the help on his TD run from the guys up front and the guy up above.
Tony Frazzini had some help, too, on his game-ending sack when he nailed Bedford quarterback Joseph Bielanski at the 9-yard line as time expired.
"It was a stunt running off the corner that we call our roam stunt," Bayuk said of the play. "We try to make it look like our linebacker [John Dominic] is coming in. Then we loop the end [Frazzini] underneath. He came underneath untouched and that saved the game for us."
Before the play, the 5-11, 205 Frazzini must have been licking his chops.
"I knew the quarterback was slow getting off the line, so I was going in like lightning," he said.
Scoring opportunity
Bedford's only stab at scoring was a 25-yard field goal attempt late in the second quarter. However, Dominic DePompei's kick was wide left.
Lane was instrumental defensively, too, as the 5-10, 170-pounder recovered two fumbles and had an interception.
The performance was almost forgotten as Lane bobbled away the ball after reaching Chanel's 7.
That's where Derek DuBose recovered with 7:15 left on the clock when the Firebirds started the game's final march.
"We couldn't score," Chanel coach Bill Powers said. "We fumbled three times but recovered them, then put two more down and didn't get them back and threw an interception. I said coming into the game 'If we don't turn the ball over we'll win.' Well, we turned it over and they played a great game. Hubbard's a good team. They're physical."
The loss was Powers' first as Chanel's coach. He guided the Firebirds through a 15-0 season in 2001.
Bayuk said he knew how good Lane was, but he wanted to get his quarterback (Gabe McKee) and fullback (Buccilli) and his receivers more involved in the offense.
Influence of speed
"Bedford had some really fast people on the perimeter. A couple times when we tried getting some things going on the perimeter we couldn't do it. We have some work to do there, but I doubt we'll see that much speed from anybody else on our schedule."
Hubbard finished with 134 yards on the ground, while McKee completed one of six passes for 11 yards, with Adam Jablonski getting the catch.
Bedford gained 117 yards rushing and 63 passing. The Firebirds picked up 84 of it on the final drive.
bassetti@vindy.com