ONONDAGA COUNTY – As many of the other football programs in Central New York went through all kinds of starts and stops, West Genesee maintained a steady stream of practices and games without interruption.
And the Wildcats were successful on the field, too, improving to 4-1 overall last Friday night when it hosted Rome Free Academy and rolled past the Black Knights 42-6.
Twice in the first quarter, WG put together scoring drives that Exavier Brumfield finished off with touchdown runs, the first one five yards, the other nine yards as Scott Fura added the extra points.
It stayed 14-0 until halftime, with RFA’s defense settling down for a while, but any doubts about the outcome were erased when the Wildcats erupted for 21 unanswered points in the third quarter.
Braeden McNeil, who completed 12 of 22 passes for 216 yards, did most of his damage here, throwing scoring passes of 26 yards to Nick Louise and 58 yards to Brumfield.
Dan Becker added a one-yard scoring plunge as Brumfield finished with 160 rushing yards on 20 carries, augmented by 84 yards on three pass completions. McNeil ran for 56 yards on 10 carries and Gerard Grobsmith added 55 yards on nine carries.
It was WG’s defense which registered the team’s final points in the fourth quarter, Vincent Firenze recovering a Black Knights fumble and returning it to the end zone.
As the Wildcats prepare for Thursday’s season finale against Central Square, Jordan-Elbridge will finish at Cato-Meridian on Friday, still in search of its first win of the season..
Against the same Onondaga side it lost to 14-9 back on March 27, the Eagles were not as close in the rematch, taking a 41-15 defeat to the Tigers.
A big second quarter by OCS broke it open after neither side scored in the opening period, Will’Zarion Jones scoring twice on runs and throwing a 10-yard TD pass to King Owens.
J-E did not get on the board until the third quarter, when Avante Brown broke loose for a 36-yard scoring dash. The Eagles added a score in the final period when Caleb Decola went five yards for the TD.
