Through two weeks, and a grand total of six points on the board in losses to Marcellus and Westhill, the Chittenango football team seethed – and waited for a chance to display its skills.
So naturally the Bears were delighted when Skaneateles, outscored 87-36 in its first two games, arrived on Friday night.
Chittenango proceeded to make the Lakers’ predicament much worse, taking over in the game’s middle stages and producing a 42-10 rout for its first win of the season.
Mostly, what the Bears did in the first half was put together long, sustained drives to control the ball and wear the Skaneateles defense out.
That led to three touchdowns, and a 21-3 halftime lead. Quarterback Devin Christopher began the parade with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Steve Mesmer, and in the second quarter Christopher would score on a three-yard run after Kyle Mills went one yard for a TD of his own.
All the Lakers could manage in that half was James Smith’s 26-yard field goal in the first quarter, a key stop for the Bears since it kept a slim early lead.
So in the third quarter, with a more comfortable margin, the Bears got many more chances to score – and took advantage of them with 21 more unanswered points.
Dylan Furco proved to be a focal point. He ran 24 yards for one TD, then connected with Christopher on 32-yard scoring pass late in the period to make it 42-3. In between, Christopher threw his second TD pass to Mesmer, covering 21 yards.
Though he threw just 11 times, Christopher completed nine of those passes for 160 yards, an average of nearly 20 yards per completion. Mills, with 103 yards on the ground, and his fellow rushers helped balance out the attack.
All game long, the Bears’ defense harassed the Lakers into mistakes, preventing a touchdown until the reserves were on the field in the fourth quarter.
As Skaneaetles goes home Friday to face Solvay, the Bears begin its quartet of Class B East division contests Saturday at 2 p.m., when it visits Vernon Verona Sherrill.
The Red Devils won its first two on the road, then outscored Phoenix 55-22 in last Saturday’s home opener. In three wins, VVS has scored a total of 140 points, which no doubt motivates the Bears’ defense to try and stop them.
