The Washingtonville Wizards came to Academy Field riding high on two straight wins to start the season.

The Newburgh Free Academy Goldbacks brought them crashing down.

Justin Lassic scored two rushing touchdowns, and Nyeir Johnson had a rushing and a receiving touchdown as the Goldbacks routed the Wizards, 48-12 on Thursday night at Academy Field in Newburgh.

“This just build the confidence,” Lassic said. “We’ve been working, working, conditioning and just getting better every day.”

Now, the Goldbacks are riding high after two straight wins of their own. After falling 35-28 to Staten Island’s Curtis on Sept. 4, they’ve now posted two straight 36-point wins.

“I think we’re definitely playing well,” Newburgh coach Bill Bianco said. “I think we’re good enough to be 3-0. We’re not obviously but I think it was more self-inflicted wounds in the first game, but it is what it is. We schedule those guys Week 0 to be tested, so they gave us everything that we wanted.”

The Wizards came into the game with wins over the Our Lady of Lourdes Warriors and their first win over the Monroe-Woodbury Crusaders in seven years. However, the Goldbacks’ silenced them from the opening kickoff.

After forcing a turnover on downs on the Wizards’ first possession, the Goldbacks marched down the field methodically, starting at their own 29-yard line. The three-headed attack of Lassic, Austin Lilla and Johnson. The drive ended with Johnson’s 1-yard plunge into the end zone.
On the next possession, Lassic broke loose on a 37-yard run to give the Goldbacks a 13-0 lead.

“We’ve got a lot of weapons,” Lassic said. “Everybody’s physical doing what they have to do.”

Quarterback Jaiseon Barnwell got in on the fun in the second quarter. Three plays after hitting Johnson for a 21-yard pass, Barnwell took a keeper seven yards into the end zone for a touchdown, giving the Goldbacks a 20-0 lead with 6:05 left in the quarter.

“When the run is killing you, you have to play up,” Barnwell said. “When they run how the running backs run, it opens up the deep shots for us.”

Barnwell through his only passing touchdown of the game hitting Johnson with a 16-yard touchdown pass with 1:38 left in the second quarter.

“Nyeir is a multi-faced athlete,” Bianco said. “He’s got great hands in the receiving game. He’s physical running the ball, and the part you don’t even think about is he’s a very good blocker too. He’s a big kid, so when he’s leading the way for Justin a lot of the times. He really hits you in all three phases. And then he goes in and plays the end and creates some havoc defensively.”

The Wizards got their only score of the second half when quarterback Brennan Tesseyman hit younger brother Bryce Tesseyman for a 24-yard touchdown pass.

Barnwell through a touchdown pass to Jeron Underwood early in the third quarter. The Wizards responded with a touchdown pass from Brennan Tesseyman to Francis Shea to cut Newburgh’s lead to 35-12.

The Goldbacks added touchdowns from Lassic and Denvyr Herring to finish the scoring.

“I thought our defense played well,” Bianco said. “The quarterback drops back and he runs all around and they’ve got some big receivers.”

With two wins under their belt the Goldbacks good face one of their toughest Section 9 challenges to date when the Class A power Cornwall Dragons come to Academy Field.

“I’m not satisfied,” Barnwell said. “There’s still more work to do, and obviously we would hope to keep building off this win and use this momentum in the further weeks coming because there are lot of good teams in the section.”