In a two-day drama, the Morrisville-Eaton and Hamilton football teams would seek wins in the last weekend of the regular season, each of them knowing a victory would mean a ticket to the Section III Class D playoffs.
M-E went first on Friday night, and never got close. The Warriors were shut out by Frankfort-Schuyler, 45-0, as the Maroon Knights took the outright Class D Central division title with its third consecutive shutout.
All the Warriors (3-4) could manage was 98 total yards against the ferocious Frankfort defense. T.J. Lampron ran for 179 yards as the Knights pulled away by scoring at least one touchdown in each quarter.
Moving on to Saturday, Hamilton had much more success at Rome Catholic, fighting past the Red Wings 24-7 to improve to 5-2 and claim second in the league — and an automatic playoff berth.
Nick Sorosky carried the Emerald Knights along, as he rushed for a career-best 289 yards. He helped Hamilton out of a 7-7 first-quarter tie by scoring on a 22-yard run in the second quarter, just after Matt Martin booted a 32-yard field goal.
Sorosky continued to pile up the yardage in the second half, and Martin, who had run for a TD in the first quarter, helped clinch things with a 32-yard scoring pass to Ryan Russock in the third period.
A day later, everyone learned their playoff fates. Hamilton, as the second-place team in D Central, will meet D East champion Dolgeville Saturday at 1:30 in the first round, with the winner to get Onondadga or Richfield Springs in the semifinals.
M-E was the odd team out, denied because Richfield Springs had the tie-breaker. The Warriors will play another team left out, Canastota (5-2), Friday in a crossover game at 7 p.m.
