For a very brief moment, when the Skaneateles football team recorded a safety in the first quarter of Friday night’s game against Homer at Hyatt Stadium, there was a notion that it could at least make the Class B West division front-runners feel a bit of stress, something the Trojans hadn’t felt all season.
Then the second quarter got underway, and the Lakers’ notions were dashed in a hurry.
Piling up 33 unanswered points in that period, the state Class B no. 9-ranked Trojans turned in yet another dominant all-around effort, eventually going on to beat Skaneateles by a 69-2 margin.
In racing to a 5-0 start, Homer has amassed 313 points, more than any other team in Section III, and only surrendered 28. And like in September, the Trojans drained the drama out of the outcome long before it reached halftime.
During the first quarter, Skaneateles did a respectable job of containment, only giving up, on the defensive side, Jake Hayes’ 31-yard touchdown run. The Lakers’ safety followed, which made it 7-2, but it only served as a temporary respite.
Before the period ended, Homer got its own safety, and after that rare exchange of two points apiece, the Trojans really went to work.
Five times in the second quarter, Homer would record touchdowns, everything ranging from quarterback Drew Cottrell’s one-yard plunge to longer runs of 13 and 34 yards by Alec Bush.
Thrown in there for good measure was Cottrell’s 24-yard scoring pass to Jayden Gavidia, and even the Trojans’ defense joined in the fun when Joe Becker picked up a Skaneateles fumble at the Lakers’ 25 and returned it for six more points.
Even with the game well in hand, Homer added 27 more points in the second half as Dean Riley, Gage Root, Chris Birchenough and Christian Pittsley each scored one touchdown.
As the Trojans move on to decisive Class B West battles with Marcellus and Westhill over the next two weeks, Skaneateles (2-3) goes to Phoenix (0-5) next Friday, knowing a win will lock up a Section III Class B playoff berth.
