All is now in place for one of the biggest-ever football match-ups between Marcellus and Westhill.
Both the Mustangs and Warriors enter next weekend’s Class B West clash sporting 4-0 marks after winning in vastly different manners on Friday – the Mustangs outscoring Ithaca 55-35, the Warriors rolling past Phoenix 52-6.
This was the the only non-league game on the Marcellus slate. Ithaca, from the Section IV ranks, would take a while to get moving, and that allowed the Mustangs to race to a 27-7 halftime lead.
Right away, the Mustangs’ big-play capabilities were on display, Mike Keegan throwing deep to Will Coon for a 73-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter. Then the defense joined in with Drew Mosher recovering a Little Red fumble and returning it for six points.
Ahead 14-7 going to the second quarter, Marcellus extended that margin with a pair of scoring drives. Keegan ended one of them with a nine-yard run, and Ian McGloon got a TD from 12 yards out.
Then it turned wild in the third quarter. Ithaca managed 28 points in that frame, and yet it couldn’t make up much ground because Marcellus got 21 points of its own.
Mosher proved remarkable, adding a fumble return for a TD to his earlier score on an interception, while McGloon caught a 21-yard scoring pass from Keegan. Nate Garlow found the end zone from 20 yards out before Keegan tacked on a one-yard TD run in the final period.
All told, Keegan threw 18 passes, completing 12 of them for 222 yards. Coon was, as usual, his main target, with six catches for 156 yards, with McGloon contributing 111 yards on the ground.
And now that potent Marcellus offense will go up against a fast, aggressive and physical Westhill defense that, over the first month of the season, has only improved each time it has taken the field.
Against a winless Phoenix side, that defense didn’t allow any points until the fourth quarter, long after the Warriors had put the game away. The Warriors hurt the Firebirds in every conceivable manner.
And it started with Richie Easterly throwing a 52-yard scoring pass to Chase Gedney in the first quarter. Mike Burton’s short field goal made it 10-0, and Westhill put things away with 21 unanswered points in the second period.
That included Ja’Shai’ Jamison breaking loose on a 77-yard sprint to the end zone, plus Easterly’s second and third TD passes of the game – 33 yards to Casey ROgers, then 12 yards to Burton. That long run accounted for most of Jamison’s 141 yards on 12 carriies.
Easterly, who was 11-for-19 for 220 yards, threw his fourth TD pass in the third quarter on a 10-yard strike to Donovan Whipple. Then the defense joined in the fun, Jesse Chester intercepting a Phoenix pass and returning it 28 yards for six points.
Before he exited, Easterly tacked on his longest scoring pass of the day, 75 yards to Joe Rainone, the fifth different receiver to get a touchdown as the Warriors now could look ahead to the showdown with Marcellus.
Both Westhill and Marcellus own wins over Solvay, who ended September still looking for its first victory after going to Hyatt Stadium Friday and taking a 21-6 loss to Skaneateles.
The Bearcats’ lone points came in the first quarter, on Nick Perry’s 18-yard run, but it could find an answer for Lakers all-around threat Connor Hill, who ran 78 yards for one TD and threw 56 yards to James Hackler for another.
Trailing 14-6 at halftime, Solvay tried to get an attack going, but struggled against a stingy Skaneateles defense. Hill added an 18-yard scoring pass to Tommy Hagen in the third quarter as the Bearcats return to Al Merola Field next Friday to face Phoenix.
