Buffalo Gladiators @ Southern Tier Diesel

            OLEAN – The Southern Tier Diesel, limited to just a roster of 19 players, failed to generate much offense in a 23-0 loss to the Buffalo Gladiators in Northeastern Football Alliance action Saturday night at Bradner Stadium.

            “It was ugly all the way around,” Diesel linebacker J.R. Bennion said. “Every aspect of the game was ugly.”

            The Diesel (1-8), far out of the playoff picture, were trying to play the spoiler role against the Gladiators (5-4), who are right in the thick of things. With the win, Buffalo jumps into a tie for third place in the division with Jamestown, leading on a tiebreaker. The Gladiators needed to beat the Diesel to stay alive in that race.

            “Buffalo played like the playoffs were on the line,” Bennion said.

            This game went very similar to last game, when the Gladiators won 23-8 on June 25. The Gladiators, behind a balanced offense and three field goals, led that game 16-8 at halftime and added an insurance touchdown in the second half.

            The Gladiators led 17-0 at halftime on Saturday night and put up six more points in the second half, keeping alive their streak of defeating the Diesel by 21 or more points in all eight of their career meetings.

            “We didn’t produce offensively and we had gaps on defense,” Bennion said. “It was our game to lose, and we lost it. We only had 19 guys, so our defensive backs were playing receiver. They were running the whole game and tired out.”

            The lack of able bodies on the Diesel sidelines came due to a variety of factors. One of the biggest factors was the Don Raabe Big 30 Charities Classic football game in Bradford, Pa., which drew away a few Diesel players, who went to the game as spectators, Bennion said. Also, Diesel wide receiver Seth Knight (Bolivar-Richburg) played in the game on the New York side as a listed defensive end.

            “It was one of the weekends where we had a real bad game, and with our roster shortage, we got shutout,” Bennion said. “There’s not much I can say or do about it.”

            As normal starting quarterback Shannon Knight was one of the starters not at the game, John Evener returned to quarterback, where he completed 7-of-18 passes for 76 yards and one interception. Jason Folland was the recipient of four of those passes for 41 yards. Rushing the ball was also a problem, as Fred Knight accumulated just 21 yards on 11 rushes. The Diesel had just 89 total net yards. Bennion led the team defensively with 10 tackles.

            Buffalo had two rushing touchdowns from Owen Buehler and one from Amir Shariff.

            It was the Diesel’s final home game of the season, and they finished 1-4 in them.

            Buffalo hosts Finger Lakes on Saturday in a tough regular season finale. Buffalo needs a win to clinch the No. 3 spot in the West Division. A loss to Finger Lakes – which would give the Impact a perfect 10-0 regular season – would force Buffalo to sit and wait to see what Jamestown does at the Southern Tier Warriors.

            Meanwhile, the Diesel finish their season Saturday night with a 5:30 p.m. game at Lyndonville (6-3). The Tigers are coming off a 39-0 win against the Southern Tier Warriors a week ago and are locked firmly into the No. 2 spot in the West Division.

            When the playoffs begin Aug. 20, Lyndonville will host the No. 3 seed, either Jamestown or Buffalo.

            The Tigers and Diesel/Hornell Dragons have met 13 times since 2004, and the Tigers have won all 13 meetings by at least 15 points, including July 9’s 42-6 Tigers win at Bradner Stadium in which Lyndonville took an eight-point halftime lead (14-6) and blew the game wide open over the final 30 minutes by adding four scores.