Two quarters of football were in the books Friday night at Al Merola Field, and denizens of “The Pit” in Solvay blue and orange were in nirvana, their long-suffering Bearcats romping to a 22-point lead on Marcellus, the coveted Tom Anthony Silver Cup ready to be reclaimed.
And then the second half got underway.
What was treasure turned into tragedy for the Bearcats, who wore down and watched the Mustangs score an astonishing 32 unanswered points to prevail, 38-28, and keep the modest piece of hardware named for the former Marcellus and Solvay coach in its possession.
Every Bearcats coach and player swore that, this season, things would turn around, and that it only figured that the revival would start against its long-time antagonists in green.
Summer-like heat radiated from the Solvay turf as the hosts started out with an eight-play, 62-yard scoring drive that was full of power running. Jeff Honsinger close it out with a two-yard scoring burst, and a two-point conversion created an 8-0 Bearcats edge.
Marcellus couldn’t answer and, midway through the first quarter, Solvay went to the end zone, this time with Brandon Franklin’s 23-yard run. And that 14-0 lead held until the end of the period, the Bearcats fortunate that a possible Mustangs TD was called back on a penalty.
Early in the second quarter, though, a Solvay fumble led to the first points for Marcellus, Ian McGloon scoring on a one-yard run. But it wasn’t long before the Bearcats were rolling again.
Having run so much, Solvay drew Marcellus in, and then saw Brandon Franklin throw deep on an option pass to Sam Okhman that covered 62 yards and produced the third touchdown of the first half.
Honsinger returned to cap off the Bearcats’ dream half when he eluded Marcellus defenders and went 71 yards for his second TD, part of a half where Honsinger gained 151 yards on the ground. That made it 28-6, a halftime score that offered no clue as to what would happen next.
During the halftime break, Marcellus players let out frustrations on each other as coaches talked in a separate huddle. Once the coaches returned to the players, things had calmed down.
Marcellus had a reason not to panic. With a deeper roster, fewer players going both ways and far more experience winning games, Marcellus was able to preserve some energy, hoping that it could wear Solvay down – which it did.
It started with McGloon, who broke free on a toss near midfield and didn’t stop until he was in the end zone 55 yards later, which made it 28-12 early in the third quarter.
Then, after the Bearcats couldn’t capitalize on a McGloon fumble, the Mustangs got the ball back and quickly moved to the goal line, from where Mike Keegan scored on a seven-yard run. Even with a missed conversion, the margin was down to 10 points, 28-18.
As the fourth quarter began, Solvay faced a fourth-and-five, but when it didn’t convert, the Mustangs quickly drove to the Bearcats’ 18, and then watched as Mike Keegan found Will Coon in the end zone.
With 10:30 left, Solvay still led 28-24, but all of its momentum was gone, and as it tried to regain its breath on defense, McGloon zoomed past them, 65 yards to the go-ahead TD.
Stunned by all this, the Bearcats quickly gave the ball back and, as time wound down, Coon, on a 65-yard pass from Keegan, converted the Mustangs’ fifth touchdown of the half, capping one of the most memorable chapters in the Marcellus-Solvay saga.
Great as the Mustangs’ offense was, its defense also had to come up big in the second half, and did so, holding the weary Bearcats to just 24 yards of total offense.
And this will only add more hype to next Friday’s reunion between Marcellus and another long-time rival, Skaneateles. The Lakers, who returned to Class B this fall, opened with an impressive 40-13 win over Chittenango.
Meanwhile, Solvay has to find a way to regroup and do so against its other neighbor, Westhill, when they meet at “The Pit” next Friday.
