CENTRAL NEW YORK – If the Solvay football team truly wanted to make a championship push this fall, it had to win a big game against a long-established power somewhere.
The opportunity presented itself last Saturday at Fayetteville-Manlius when the 3-0 Bearcats faced 4-0, state Class C no. 2-ranked Cazenovia – but a series of turnovers derailed those hopes, leading to a 33-14 defeat.
Twice in the first half, Solvay fumbled snaps in Lakers territory, each of them leading to touchdowns – one a 13-yard pass from Bobby Livingston to Taven Reilley, the other a two-yard Jack Donlin run.
Two other first-half possessions resulted in turnovers, too, including a sack of quarterback Jakob Frost in the last minute of the second quarter that caused a fumble and thwarted a Bearcats drive.
Cazenovia ultimately built a 27-0 advantage helped by two long TD runs – a 95-yard dash by Brayden Weismore and a 37-yard scramble by Livingston late in the the third quarter. All of the Bearcats’ points came in the fourth quarter on Jeff Sharpe’s 12-yard run and Jaysin Bliss going 53 yards for a score after he was contained for most of the afternoon.
Elsewhere in Class C football, Skaneateles vastly improved its post-season hopes when it turned back Bishop Ludden 20-14 last Friday at Hyatt Stadium.
Defense ruled for the Lakers in the first half as it kept the potent Gaelic Knights off the board while putting together two scoring drives. Torin Bennett plunged a yard for one TD and Dominick Caraccio sprinted 34 yards for another.
Trailing 14-0 at the break, Ludden did get on the board with Jahmarion Clarke’s 12-yard TD run, but Bennett scored from seven yards out and, despite a late defensive TD by the Gaelic Knights on a Darion Clarke fumble return, Skaneateles held on.
Caraccio ran for 89 yards on 12 carries to lead the Lakers’ ground attack. Brady Ellis stood out on defense, recording 10 tackles as Bennett, Louis Richards, Will Feeney and Colton McDonald had five tackles apiece.
Marcellus finally reached the win column last Friday, claiming a tough 21-19 decision over Canastota.
They traded first-quarter scoring drives, Dakota Wilson going three yards to Mitch Donegan for a TD before his 17-yard scoring run in the second period got the Mustangs in front.
When Henry Lawrence hit Damyn LeClair for a 35-yard scoring pass in the third quarter, it gave Marcellus a 21-7 lead – which it needed as the Raiders scored twice in the final period but missed two different two-point conversions.
Moving to 2-3 on the season, Jordan-Elbridge went to Hannibal Saturday and beat the Warriors 36-14, Nixon Karcz leading the way as he completed 18 of 26 passes for 155 yards and two TD’s while running for 118 yards on 16 carries and getting a score.
Defensively for the Eagles, Ellis Titus was everywhere, amassing 12 tackles. Colton Munson, Dan Redmond and Austin Brunelle had six tackles apiece, Zack Susino adding five tackles.
West Genesee went to Corcoran on Friday and led at halftime, only to go quiet late in a 24-15 loss to the Cougars.
Down 6-0 after on period, the Wildcats scored twice in the second quarter on a short Francisco Cross run and 45-yard TD pass from Jack Wade to Anthony Baggett, Carson Pagan adding a two-point completion.
From there, though, Corcoran shut WG down, and prevailed on scoring runs of 13 and 32 yards by Deviyne Bailey in the second half. Bailey had 182 yards on 13 carries and put in all four of the Cougars’ TD.
At its Homecoming game, Westhill would also lead early and, like West Genesee, see it get away during a 40-28 defeat to Homer.
Elijah Welch hit Collin White on a 17-yard TD pass for the only points of the first quarter, and Taden Chester followed with a two-yard scoring plunge.
Still, Homer absorbed all of this and kept giving the ball to Alex Votra, who scored twice in the second period to help the Trojans bolt in front, 22-14.
Twice in the third quarter, Westhill converted, Welch going eight yards to Keller O’Hern before scrambling nine yards for another TD. But Homer’s ground game kept wearing the Warriors down as Votra added a third TD and Homer pulled away, overcoming Welch going 11-for-29 for 222 yards and adding 95 yards on 11 carries.
