MORRISVILLE – It wasn’t supposed to end here again.
Not with the Cazenovia football team undefeated and perched atop the state Class C rankings. Not with the prime motivation to go further than the 2022 side that was undefeated before a dramatic defeat in the Section III Class C semifinals.
Yet the Lakers found itself dealing with the same bitter ending Friday night at Morrisville State College, ousted by Adirondack 34-27 in a sectional semifinal where it led several different times, only to get answered.
Adirondack was far from a surprise, though. The Wildcats were 8-1 and no. 8 in those same state Class C rankings where Cazenovia was perched on top, its only blemish a loss to General Brown, who routed Skaneateles 39-14 in the other semifinal.
What was more, Adirondack was a resilient side, not fazed one bit when Bobby Livingston found Brayden Weismore deep over the middle for an 85-yard touchdown strike, the only points for either team in the first quarter.
Instead, the Wildcats scored twice in the second period, on runs of 11 yards by Max Weiler and three yards by quarterback John Hennessey. Livingston countered with a seven-yard TD scramble, but a missed extra point meant Adirondack led 14-13 at the break.
When Cazenovia made a key fourth-down stop early in the third quarter and Livingston threw 49 yards to Wyatt Scott to set up his own 16-yard TD run, the Lakers led 19-14, and appeared, for a brief moment, to gain control.
Once more, Adirondack had an answer, scoring just two minutes later on Hennessey’s 19-yard run plus a two-point conversion. Down 22-19, Cazenovia again fought back, moving to the Wildcats’ two before Weismore scored and Taven Reilley ran in for two points.
Ultimately, what decided this game was the fact that Adirondack’s big, physical ground attack proved the antidote to a Cazenovia defense that had shut down opponents all season.
Twice in the fourth quarter, Hennessey drove his team down the field. He scored once with 9:45 to play to put the Wildcats up 28-27, and after a defensive stop, again put together a march and finished it off with his third rushing TD with 2:10 left.
Try as it could, Cazenovia could not answer it, and a season entirely spent on the road that appeared certain to climax with a sectional final appearance at the JMA Wireless Dome instead ended instead with an 8-1 mark.
Adirondack held the Lakers to just 57 rushing yards. Livingston nearly made up for it in the air, completing 13 of 26 passes for 270 yards as most of Weismore’s 86 yards came from his early TD. Reilley and Christian Schug each had four catches, combining for 112 yards.
Bryce Enders was quite busy on defense, netting eight tackles and eight assists. Jack Macro assisted on 10 tackles to go with three solo tackles as Jack Donlin had five tackles and five assists. Evan Rice added nine assists. Carter Bowden had three tackles and five assists.
Cazenovia will have Livingston and a solid supporting cast return in 2024 when the new artificial surface at Buckley-Volo Field is completed and the Lakers will have home games again, still hungry to take its season at least one step further than before.
