When the Marcellus football team hosted Cortland on Friday night, the game’s meaning went far beyond the scoreboard and how it affected the Class B West division standings.

For this game, the Mustangs donned green jerseys with camouflage numbers on the front and back, and fans wore T-shirts, purchased at $10 apiece, to raise money for the Wounded Warriors Project, an organization that helps war veterans acclimate back to civilian life.

Perhaps it was only fitting, then, that on a night to honor soldiers, it was the Marcellus defense making the biggest impact to help the Mustangs overcome a halftime deficit and beat the Purple Tigers by a score of 23-14.

Coming off back-to-back defeats to Skaneateles and Chittenango, Marcellus could not afford any further slips if it wanted to improve its post-season chances.

Yet the Mustangs found itself trailing Cortland 14-10 at halftime despite Mike Keegan’s one-yard scoring run in the first quarter and Tom Fiacchi’s 36-yard field goal. Dylan Brown scored both of the Purple Tigers’ touchdowns on runs of three and four yards.

Throughout the second half, though, Marcellus continually stopped anything Cortland tried to establish, giving the Mustangs ample time to fight back – which it did.

Nate Garlow’s three-yard TD run in the third quarter gave Marcellus the lead for good, and Fiacchi added a late score while also going two-for-three on extra points.

Westhill is the next opponent for Marcellus – and like the Mustangs, the Warriors were 1-2 going into last Friday’s action, but climbed back to the .500 mark with its most productive effort of the season in a 48-16 victory over Syracuse’s Institute of Technology Central.

More than anything else, this game was the coming-out party for running back Shaleek Giles, who amassed 202 yards on 17 carries and scored three touchdowns to help Westhill build a 34-0 lead through three quarters.

Giles first found the end zone in the second quarter on an 18-yard run, igniting a 21-point period where he scored again from nine yards out, with Zavion Barrett also throwing a nine-yard TD pass to Casey Rogers.

This, combined with Barrett’s 20-yard scoring pass to Rogers in the first quarter, created a 27-0 halftime margin, and Barrett, who completed eight of 13 passes for 107 yards, added scoring passes of 32 yards to Chase Gedney and 14 yards to Galen Hayes in the second half after Giles blazed 47 yards for a score early in the half.

While Westhill and Marcellus sit at 2-2, Solvay and West Genesee stay winless, the Bearcats having fallen at home to Skaneateles 63-28 as the Wildcats went to Johnson City (Section IV) and lost by a 43-7 margin.

The game between Solvay and Skaneateles turned late in the second quarter. At that moment, they were tied, 14-14, the Bearcats rallying from an early 14-0 deficit as Colin Lucio threw a 22-yard scoring pass to Mike Yaizzo and, minutes later, Alex Britton found the end zone from 20 yards out.

Skaneateles quarterback Devin Callahan would put the Lakers back in front when, from the Bearcats’ 23-yard line, he found Aubrey Leverich, who rumbled to the end zone and gave the Lakers a 21-14 lead with 55 seconds left in the half.

Solvay promptly turned it over, and Skaneateles cashed in. With just three seconds showing on the clock, Callahan, working from Solvay’s 12, connected with Marc Pietropaoli for the touchdown.

Taking a 28-14 lead to the third quarter, the Lakers didn’t let up. Callahan connected again with Aubrey Leverich, who completed a 43-yard scoring play just 1:23 into the period.

Quickly, the Lakers got the ball back on its own 21. Callahan then threw deep – and found Pietropaoli, who went the rest of the way, 79 yards. Skaneateles had scored 28 points in a span of four minutes, 10 seconds, had a 42-14 edge, and would not get caught.

That was Pietropaoli’s third TD of the night, and Callahan finished with six scoring passes. Lucio had two TD passes, one to Jake Dippold for 58 yards, as Britton ran for a team-best 76 yards. Tony Matysuk had nine tackles, one for a loss, to pace the Bearcat defense as Dustin Harris and Josh Chrysler each had five tackles.