Upon seeing his somber teammate, Chase Bonta reached down, grabbed Wilson-Earll’s hand and pulled the lineman to his feet. It was fitting that the 5-foot-9, 195-pounder offered the assist, because he’d done everything else for the Red & Green football team on Friday night. All told, he rushed for 253 yards on 33 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns; caught three passes (one for a touchdown); and registered 20 tackles, including two for loss.

Believe it or not, it wasn’t enough.

Orchard Park stopped Jamestown quarterback Dominic Gonzalez on a 2-point conversion keeper with 1:26 remaining and the Quakers — behind a brilliant performance by brothers Brady and Jack Ciano — left Strider Field with a 41-40 Class AA victory against their longtime rivals.

“It was a play that we liked,” Red & Green coach Tom Langworthy said of his decision to go for the lead rather than the tie. “We were running over the right-hand side pretty good all night. The previous play was the same play and (Gonzalez) walked right in (for the touchdown), so we thought let’s go back to it, be decisive and go for it. It looked like, from where we were, it was there, but someone made a play.”

Jamestown’s Ayden Samuelson gets behind Orchard Park’s Zack Danna for a catch during Friday’s Class AA football game at Strider Field in Jamestown. P-J photo by Tim Frank

The Quakers had been doing that most of the night.

Brady Ciano, their senior quarterback, completed 19 of 31 passes for 248 yards and four touchdowns — 21 yards and 38 yards to his brother, 13 yards to Max Mancabelli and 11 yards to Travon Thomas. Mancabelli also returned a kickoff 85 yards for another score.

For good measure, Jack Ciano intercepted a Gonzalez pass and returned it 53 yards for a touchdown, one of four Jamestown turnovers. Noah Wisniewski booted his fifth successful point-after try, pushing Orchard Park’s lead to 41-27 with 2:30 remaining in the third quarter.

“Those brothers definitely have chemistry together,” Langworthy said of the Cianos. “I’m sure they run these routes year-round. It’s a challenge for us in the secondary. We’ve been trying different guys, we’ve adjusted during the game and tried different things, but we just couldn’t find a way to contain (Orchard Park’s passing game).”

Despite the challenges, Jamestown didn’t wilt.

Bonta’s 2-yard TD run with nine seconds left in the period — set up by Gonzalez’s 39-yard aerial to Ayden Samuelson — and Lincoln Carpenter’s fourth successful PAT attempt pulled the Red & Green to within 41-34.

And after the Quakers six-minute drive to start the fourth quarter ended in a missed Wisniewski 28-yard field goal, Jamestown went on an 80-yard march, much of it courtesy of Bonta, whose 57 yards on the ground on seven carries led to Gonzalez’s 3-yard keeper for a touchdown with just under 1 ½ minutes remaining.

“Bonta is just getting better every week,” Langworthy said. “He’s such a blue-collar guy and blue-collar player. I’m proud of him. He really is a tough, hard-nosed back and linebacker. He does a lot for us. He’s really matured from last year to this year … and is one of the better backs in the league.”

After Gonzalez TD run, Langworthy opted to go for the lead rather than the tying extra-point kick and sent his quarterback on another keeper, but he was stopped just short of the goal line. The Quakers recovered the subsequent onsides kick and ran out the clock.

NOTES: Gonzalez completed 10 of 19 passes for 133 yards and the touchdown to Bonta, and he ran for 71 yards on 10 carries and two scores. …. Samuelson caught five passes for 69 yards, Josiah Cruz had two receptions for 37 yards and Bona had three catches for 29 yards. … Defensively, Bonta collected 20 tackles, including two for loss; Cole Bloomquist, who had a 1-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, had 15 tackles, including two for loss, and a sack; Luis Diaz collected 13 tackles, including one for loss; and Wilson-Earll and Carson Panebianco had nine and eight stops respectively. … Jamestown returns to action next Friday when it travels to Lancaster, which lost to Bennett 20-13 last night.

Orchard Park 7 14 20 0 — 41

Jamestown 0 20 14 6 — 40

OP–Jack Ciano 21 pass from Brady Ciano (Wisniewski kick)

JHS–Bonta 4 run (Carpenter kick)

OP–Mancabelli 85 kickoff return (Wisniewski kick)

JHS–Bonta 14 pass from Gonzalez (Carpenter kick)

OP–Jack Ciano 38 pass from Brady Ciano (Wisniewski kick)

JHS–Bloomquist 1 run (kick failed)

OP–Mancabelli 13 pass from Brady Ciano 9 (pass failed)

JHS–Gonzalez 23 run (Carpenter kick)

OP–Thomas 11 pass from Brady Ciano (Wisniewski kick)

OP–Jack Ciano 53 interception return (Wisniewski kick)

JHS–Bonta 2 run (Carpenter kick)

JHS–Gonzalez 3 run (run failed)