With all of its neighbors and rivals conquered and a place in the state Class B top 10 plus a top playoff seed secured, the Solvay football team could now focus on completing an undefeated regular season.
A large home crowd at Al Merola Field looked on Friday night as the Bearcats cranked up the offense against Westhill and prevailed 55-22, sending the Warriors to a fifth consecutive defeat.
Meanwhile, Marcellus, bouncing back from its hard-fought 42-35 defeat to Solvay a week earlier, withstood a late comeback from Bishop Ludden and scored late in regulation to edge the Gaelic Knights 34-28 and improve its record to 5-1.
In the wake of defeating Marcellus for the first time in 12 years and reclaiming the Tom Anthony Silver Cup, Solvay climbed to no. 10 in the state rankings, but was determined not to have a letdown back home against Westhill.
That didn’t prove a problem as, first on the ground and then through the air, the Bearcats eight times found the end zone, starting with Russ Tarbell’s sprint from midfield 51 yards for a touchdown in the opening minutes.
Two more drives followed, each capped by short TD runs of two yards by Blaine Franklin and one yard by Brock Bagozzi. Even the Bearcats’ defense got into it when Justin Scott intercepted a Riley McNitt pass and returned it 80 yards for six points.
And though Westhill scored twice on McNitt’s 42-yard pass to Jack Small and a four-yard TD plunge, Solvay pulled further away with Bagozzi tossing four scoring passes, three of them to Scott.
Mixed in with two-yard and 18-yard passes was another trademark big play, Bagozzi, from his own 28, throwing deep and finding Scott for a score that covered 72 yards before he capped it off with a nine-yard scoring pass to Elijah Wright.
Solvay can complete a perfect 7-0 regular season if it wins Friday at Homer, while Marcellus and South Jefferson will square off up north to see who finishes second in Class B West and gets a first-round playoff home game, likely against Central Valley Academy.
Getting that chance wasn’t easy for the Mustangs, though, as Bishop Ludden, at 2-3 and desperately needing a victory to keep its post-season hopes alive, pushed Marcellus to the wire.
With its trademark ground attack, the Mustangs found the end zone twice in the first quarter, on runs of 10 yards by Trevor Widrick and Cameron Cerul, and added a one-yard TD sneak from Sean Tierney in the second period.
Ludden scored once in each period, Nazier Kinsey scrambling 31 yards for one TD and throwing eight yards to Mikey Butera for another, so at halftime the Gaelic Knights trailed 21-14.
Even Nick Kermes’ 17-yard end zone dash in the third quarter did not rattle the Gaelic Knights, who saw Kinsey dash 50 yards for one TD and then, midway through the fourth quarter, drove to the Mustangs’ eight, from where Kinsey found Antwon McMullen in the end zone.
Evan Cervantes’ extra point tied it 28-28, but Marcellus countered with a clutch scoring drive that ate up most of the rest of the regulation clock. With 50 seconds left, quarterback Sean Tierney converted from the one for the winning points.
As Marcellus faces South Jefferson, Ludden closes its B West slate next Friday with a trip to Cortland.
