Now all is in place for the Baldwinsville football team to take part in the biggest Section III Class AA football game of the regular season.
The 5-0, state-ranked Bees will go to Sunnycrest Field next Friday night to face 5-0, state-ranked Henninger, with first place in the Class AA-2 division on the line.
More importantly, a win would also guarantee for B’ville a top seed for the sectional AA playoffs since it already owns a victory over third-place Auburn, a team the Black Knights still have to face on Oct. 18 after it faces the Bees.
To make sure this game carried maximum value, both had to win their last tune-ups during this weekend’s action, with B’ville visiting Utica Proctor on Saturday afternoon, a day after Henninger went to Cicero-North Syracuse.
Having seen the Black Knights prevail at C-NS, 32-14, and spoil the Northstars’ christening of its new Field Turf at Bragman Stadium, the Bees, with far less ceremony but just as much effectiveness, handled its end of the bargain at Proctor, rolling to a 48-13 victory over the Raiders.
With a 1-3 opponent (Proctor’s only win came over Fowler on Sept. 5), B’ville needed only to avoid looking ahead, and it was quickly apparent that focus would not be a problem.
Less than three minutes into the first quarter, the Bees’ defense forced a punt. Cameron Skipworth, taking it at the Raiders’ 45, picked up good blocks and took it all the way back for a touchdown. Tom Scarfino’s extra point made it 7-0 before B’ville’s offense even took a snap.
Once it did, though, the Bees’ powerful ground attack soon took hold. Skipworth finished off a scoring drive with his second TD of the afternoon,from 21 yards out, and the Bees had a a 14-0 edge.
Since the Raiders were so worried about Skipworth, quarterback Madison Wolfanger took full advantage of this concentration and broke out on a 35-yard sprint to the end zone with 8:04 left in the first half, extending B’ville’s lead to 21-0.
Proctor did get on the board midway through the second quarter, and that cut the margin to 21-7, where it stood at halftime – a safe lead, but no reason for B’ville to let up, and it did not.
The Bees’ first possession of the third quarter led to Skipworth’s third TD, another long dash of 64 yards. Minutes later, the Bees had the ball again, and from five yards out Josh Smith ran home to make it 34-7.
After Proctor cut the margin to 34-13 later in the period, B’ville put together one more scoring drive just as the quarter ended, and Skipworth sprinted 37 yards for his fourth TD. Ryan Ingerson added a score of his own on a 40-yard run with 9:37 to play, and the build-up to Henninger could begin in earnest.
Skipworth ended up with 230 yards on just 17 carries. Smith had 72 yards and Ingerson added 64 yards as the Bees, all told, gained 417 yards on the ground.
Defensively, Mark Lannier led with six tackles, with Sam Mahar and Evan Stollicker each getting five tackles. Calvin Tanguay contributed four tackles and Dylan Buis recovered a Proctor fumble.
