Rush-Henrietta trusted Brendan Mangone. He delivered a championship

Just because the plan didn't pan out last high school football season, and maybe the season before that, was no reason for Rush-Henrietta to abandon it.

Put trust and the football into the hands of quarterback Brendan Mangone. Run that back. See what happens.

The Royal Comets posed for photos after winning the Section V Class AA championship Nov. 14, standing and stretching out on the wet turf in the rain after a 39-21 victory over Pittsford.

Section V champions.

"We came here knowing that a win is a win," Rush-Henrietta coach Bruce Johnson said. "We didn't care what the score was going to be. Obviously, we came out here, we still had to run our offense. We still threw the ball downfield, we still ran the ball.

"Mangone still did his thing, as he does. That kid is an MVP-caliber player. He deserves everything he got today."

A Rush-Henrietta assistant coach turned to some of the fans at Saint John Fisher University and yelled out praise for Mangone after the senior's last carry of the game.

Mangone was on his way to a third run for a touchdown when he pulled up and went down at the Pittsford 1-yard line with a minute remaining. This was after Mangone finished with two touchdown passes.

The game's Most Valuable Player award went to Mangone after he finished with 300 all-purpose yards, including 165 rushing. He completed 8 of 18 throws, including a 12-yarder for a touchdown to Roman Chandler that made the score, 33-21, with three seconds remaining in the third quarter.

That scoring drive included completions that moved the Royal Comets to the two-touchdown lead. Denzel Sanchez took a short pass by Mangone 49 yards to the end zone in the first quarter to give the Royal Comets their first lead.

Mangone's 135 passing yards fell well short of a Section V record, but his poise on those pass plays was just as valuable to the Royal Comets. Snaps which were either too low or too high were gathered by Mangone, instead of turning into giveaways to Pittsford or the shutdown of drives.

Maybe all of that falls short of making Mangone Superman on a football field, but there is at least one team of players and coaches who appreciate what he does out there.

"When we came back (for 2026), we knew we had a great shot at it," Johnson said with Mangone standing to his right, side by side.

The Royal Comets zoomed out to a 4-0 start in 2025, outscoring their opponents, 144-28. But in game 5, the Pittsford Panthers came to R-H and left with a 35-21 victory, while Mangone suffered a shoulder injury.

When the Royal Comets, a No. 1 seed, lost to Penfield during the semifinal round of the Section V tournament, their season was over with a 6-3 record. After the 2026 Section V Class AA Final, Mangone and the rest of the top-seeded Royal Comets had the team's first trophy since 2011, nine wins after 10 games and a place in the state tournament.

"It's awesome after four years of grinding," Mangone said. "We had two pretty rough years. Two years ago, we got to the 'chip' (final), we didn't make it. Last year we fell short.

"It kind of felt like a revenge season this year. Being with the guys there's no better feeling."

Pittsford also pushed its way back to this championship game. The Panthers were Section V finalists last season, led Penfield by 10 points in the third quarter, by three early in the fourth quarter and lost the game.

It was the Panthers (9-2), not the Royal Comets, who seemed to be the ones who would score first Saturday. Pittsford did move ahead, 14-13 with 9:04 remaining in the second quarter, after Jesse Jablonsky turned a pass play into an 85-yard touchdown. But the Panthers were back in catch-up mode 1:58 later, when Mangone broke away for a 49-yard touchdown run.

Mangone scored again with 1:58 remaining in the second quarter, reaching the end zone during a 26-yard run, helping the Royal Comets to go up 26-14.

The Panthers ended up scoring just one more time. Jablonsky caught a well-thrown 26-yard pass from Brody Pusateri and made sure to put down at least one foot in the end zone to make the outstanding effort count. Rush-Henrietta led 26-21 with 4:36 remaining in the third quarter.

The quarter was coming to a close when Mangone completed the passes that led to Chandler's catch for a touchdown and Rush-Henrietta's 33-21 lead.

Pittsford turned the ball over on downs at the Rush-Henrietta 4-yard line with 5:06 remaining in the fourth quarter. There were 1:59 left when the Panthers did the same at the Rush-Henrietta 38. That denial turned into Mangone's final breakaway run and a one-yard touchdown run by Imani Wagstaff, who rushed for 98 yards.

"We definitely worked hard for this," Johnson said. "In the locker room, before the game started, we talked about how we've been talking about this since last December, actually last November, when we lost to Penfield. We should have won it.

"It's great to finally come out and get it, but we're not done. We've got a game next week (a state quarterfinal game against Buffalo Bennett, 6 p.m. Nov. 20 at SUNY Brockport)."

James Johnson, who grew up in the city of Rochester, has worked as a full-time journalist covering high school sports for the Democrat and Chronicle since 1996. Follow him @jjDandC on X (Twitter) and Instagram. Please contact him atJAMESJ@Gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Rush-Henrietta trusted Brendan Mangone. He delivered a championship