In order for the Cazenovia football team to reclaim the Section III Class B title, it first had to go through the side that denied it to them in the Carrier Dome nearly 12 months ago.
What’s more, the Lakers didn’t even get to host its first-round sectional game. It decided to move Saturday’s clash with Homer from Buckley-Volo Field to nearby Chittenango and the same Field Turf where it won over the Bears in the Oct. 12 regular-season finale.
Adding to the uncertainty, the Trojans scored first – but once that was done, Cazenovia scored plenty, setting a season mark for points and gaining 409 yards on the ground while putting away Homer 61-21.
The way it turned out, when Andrew VanPatten dashed 34 yards to the end zone in the game’s opening minutes, it provided the alarm that the Lakers needed.
Yet it was the defense that began the turnaround, forcing turnovers on the Trojans’ next two possessions after that initial TD. They led to 14 points as Ryan Romagnoli scored on an 11-yard run and Drew Johnson scored from nine yards out.
Briefly, Homer fought back, forcing a Lakers turnover and converting it with VanPatten’s five-yard TD run near the midway point of the second quarter, but in a 58-second span late in the half, the Lakers seized momentum for good.
Johnson drove his team to the Trojans’ 20, and then, on a scramble, went right, only to cut back when confronted with several Trojan defenders and, picking up blocks, made his way to the end zone.
When Homer tried to answer again, the Lakers were ready, James Pavelchak (who already had an interception) picking off a pass at midifeld and returning it 49 yards for a TD. Just like that, Cazenovia was up 27-14, but it wasn’t done with big plays.
Four plays into the third quarter, Johnson again broke a big run, going 50 yards to score. When Homer punted on its next possession deep in its own end, Romagnoli brought it back 40 yards for another TD.
Johnson would add a 24-yard scoring pass to Tony Heaney before the period ended, one of just four pass completions on the day, but he gained 171 yards on the ground, a career high.
Heaney had five carries for 81 yards, most of them on a 73-yard scoring dash in the fourth quarter. With the reserves in the game, Vito Borio chimed in with a 64-yard TD run.
Defensively, Heaney led with seven tackles and five assists. Dan Hammond had six assists to go with his four tackles as Shawn Szlamczynski earned four tackles, five assists and a fumble recovery.
Friday night at 8 p.m. at Fayetteville-Manlius, Cazenovia will face Oneida (who topped Marcellus 18-7) in the sectional Class B semifinals for a berth in the Nov. 3 title game at the Dome.
In the first semifinal at 5 p.m. at F-M, Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, who prevailed 19-7 over Westhill, will attempt to derail unbeaten, state no. 2-ranked Skaneateles, who ended Chittenango’s playoff run last Friday night at Hyatt Stadium, prevailing 51-18 over the Bears.
Despite the margin, there was a brief moment where Chittenango made those other Lakers worry, even after it fell behind 13-0 in the first quarter.
It took all of 62 seconds for the Lakers to move out in front. A Bears fumble on its own 26 was pounced on by Skaneateles and, on the very next play, Areh Boni dashed to the end zone.
Pat Hackler threw 45 yards to Nate Wellington to set up Boni’s second TD, a one-yard run, but Chittenango, down 13-0, answered in the final minutes of the first quarter, driving to the Lakers’ eight, from where Ryan Lamaitis found Dakota Diable in the end zone.
Then, early in the second period, Lamaitis, from his own 23, threw to midfield, where Keith Spurgeon grabbed a jump ball and dashed the rest of the way to the end zone, cutting the Lakers’ margin to 13-12.
That gave the Lakers enough of an alarm, though. Two minutes later, Hackler found Wellington in the end zone from 21 yards out.
Skaneateles scored twice more before halftime. Nick Wamp had a 17-yard TD run, and Boni converted a third time on a 15-yard dash, extending the Bears’ deficit to 34-12, and for the visitors, it would get worse.
Wamp returned the second-half kickoff 75 yards to the end zone. Hackler added a rushing TD on an eight-yard dash late in the third period. The Bears would score once more in the final period when Lamaitis threw his third scoring pass of the night to Griffin Furco.
