Regular-season play for the Bishop Ludden and Jordan-Elbridge football teams ended in wildly varying manners against Class C West division opponents.
The Gaelic Knights got the better of it, shutting out visiting Port Byron/Union Springs 20-0 Friday night entirely on points in the second half, while the Eagles’ faint playoff hopes were dashed at home by defending champion Skaneateles in a 42-14 defeat.
Ludden, sporting a 2-4 record going into the night, had little at stake, other than a chance to give the departing seniors one more home victory.
But during a 0-0 first half, neither the Gaelic Knights nor Port Byron/Union Springs were able to solve each other’s defenses, and the longer it went like that, the more those first points would matter.
It was Conlan McGuire and Cameron Beauford breaking the stalemate during the third quarter. Taking a snap from midfield, McGuire threw deep – and found Beauford, who went the rest of the way for a 49-yard touchdown. Travis Cote’s extra point put Ludden ahead 7-0.
That was all the points the Gaelic Knights needed, since its defense was in top form, but it still managed to put the Panthers away in the fourth quarter.
Taking a punt on his own 45, Jack Morgan found a hole in the coverage and took off on a 55-yard sprint to the end zone that made it 13-0. As an extra treat, Anthony Pecoriello, from his own 21, beat the entire Port Byron/Union Springs resistance in a 79-yard TD scamper as the game wound down
The opposition for J-E proved much more daunting. Clearly, the 24-21 defeat Skaneateles took to ITC on Oct. 11 in a first-place Class C West showdown at Hyatt Stadium left no ill effect, as the Lakers scored 35 points in a span of 10 minutes during the first half to put the Eagles away.
J-E entered the night at 3-3 and were looking for its third win in a row. The Eagles proceeded to rile up the home crowd on Senior Night when Ryan Matousek broke loose on a 44-yard touchdown run less than four minutes into the game.
Late in the first quarter, J-E still led 6-0. But once Skaneateles sophomore quarterback Devin Callahan hit running back Matt Lee on a six-yard scoring pass and Colin Alexander’s extra point put the Lakers on top 7-6, the visitors began to take over.
J-E bobbled a punt on its next possession, and Skaneateles quickly turned it into seven points as Lee ran 19 yards for his second TD. Then, on the Lakers’ next possession, Mike Parsons, from midfield, took off on a 48-yard run to set up Lee’s one-yard plunge on the first play of the second quarter.
But that was just the appetizer, as Callahan found Connor Hill on a 28-yard pass to set up another Hill TD, from one yard out. When Callahan connected with Collin Jones on a 35-yard scoring pass minutes later, it was 35-6, less than a quarter after J-E was in front.
Still, the Lakers tacked on another TD in the last minute of the half, Callahan finding Mark Goetzmann on a five-yard pass. Even though J-E used a hook-and-lateral play, Austin Barrigar to Zach Pangaro lateraling to Kyle Humberstone, to cut it to 42-14 by halftime, the Lakers were set. Alexander, who went six-for-six on extra-point tries, added a 39-yard field goal in the third quarter.
