By Tim Schmitt
AMHERST — Brett Hamlin glided down a seam through the middle of the Bowling Green secondary — another in a seemingly endless line of big offensive plays on Tuesday — and the crowd at UB Stadium rose to its feet and cheered.
Most of the crowd, that is.
Matt Bradshaw, Alan Elia and Pat Krawczyk cringed in unison, the group trying to stay warm along the concourse by section 210 in the stadium’s north end.
The cheers subsided and Bradshaw, whose most recent coaching assignment has him as the Lewiston-Porter girls basketball coach, pointed to a flag that indicated a penalty would bring the play back.
The crowd quieted.
Bradshaw clapped.
Although they’re local sports fans, the trio came out on a chilly night to support one of their own — Bowling Green head coach and Lew-Port alum Dave Clawson — not to root on the hometown Bulls.
“It’s not like we’re surrounded by UB fans,” Bradshaw said in reference to the sparse crowd.
For this group, following Clawson’s coaching tribulations has become more than just a hobby. Elia, for example, has seen a game at each of Clawson’s coaching stops — Albany, Villanova, Fordham, Richmond and Tennessee — and he plans on seeing as many as possible now that Clawson’s running the show at Bowling Green.
And why not? Aside from celebrating Clawson’s new gig as a Division I-A head coach, there are still plenty of stories to be told about the last Lew-Port basketball team to claim the Niagara Frontier League title. Elia, Krawczyk, Bradshaw, Len Palumbo and Clawson were the starting five on that squad and Jim Walker, who also popped up in the concourse from time to time on Tuesday, was the team’s coach.
That group will enjoy its 25th anniversary this season.
So while they might have been cheering for Bowling Green, this bundled group was bleeding Lancers green and white on Tuesday.
“It’s surreal to see him out there like this,” said Krawczyk, who now coaches the boys team at Lew-Port. He knows the NFL’s landscape has radically changed. Despite having the school’s all-time leading scorer in Robby Seyler pass through the program, wins have been tough to come by in the NFL gauntlet.
But Clawson’s league is no picnic. The Mid-American Conference continues to gain credibility, and every stop on the MAC route seems tough.
His former teammates think the old shooting guard is up the challenge, though.
“He’s the kind of guy who was going to be successful in anything he wanted to do,” Bradshaw said of Clawson. “Everything he did, he did seriously. He always had a business-like attitude.”
Clawson put the game tape down for a bit on Monday, enjoying dinner at the Pearl Street Brewery in downtown Buffalo with his old friends. The group stays close, with a consistent line of texts and calls.
And the Lancers, er, Falcons, enjoyed the final round of applause on Tuesday, as Freddy Barnes’ late touchdown reception helped the Falcons escape with a thrilling 30-29 win.
It’s been a quarter-century since the Lancers last won an NFL basketball title. Who knows if the school will ever win another.
Still, Tuesday felt like homecoming, at least for the small crew in front of section 210.
Contact sports editor Tim Schmitt at 282-2311, ext. 2266.
