With the regular season half done, the Cazenovia football team has assumed full control of the Class C South division.
In yet another impressive all-around effort, the Lakers never let Sherburne-Earlville get on the board Saturday at Buckley-Volo Field, getting two defensive touchdowns, plus one on special teams, in a 48-0 shutout of the Marauders.
Perhaps aware of how dicey it got a week earlier with Canastota, the Lakers made sure that, this time, S-E never entered the argument.
Led by linebacker Cody Foster, who piled up 17 tackles, Cazenovia’s defense forced the Marauders into short possessions and helped the Lakers gain valuable field position throughout the afternoon.
Fittingly, it was the defense that scored first, as Zack Golden intercepted a pass deep in S-E territory and returned it 20 yards for a touchdown early in the first quarter.
As if that wasn’t enough, Cazenovia produced another defensive TD in the second quarter, as Tom Colligan picked off another errant S-E pass and went 47 yards to the end zone.
By the time the period ended, it was 21-0, made possible by Chad Dorrance scoring on a 12-yard run and quarterback Jeff Hopsicker going six yards for another TD. Dorrance would lead the Laker rushing atttack with 115 yards on 12 carries.
Following Colligan’s interception that made it 28-0, Cazenovia would strike once more before halftime, Justin Hoffman scoring from 11 yards out. Chris Rogers missed this extra point, keeping it at 34-0, but would make his other six PATs.
Golden finished off a rare trifecta in the third quarter. By getting a six-yard TD run, and adding a spectacular 74-yard punt return for the Lakers’ final points, Golden managed to score on offense, defense and special teams in the same game.
Cazenovia (3-0, no. 15 in the first state Class C rankings of the season) gets a short week of work before visiting Sauquoit Valley Friday at 7 p.m. Sauquoit is 2-1 following a 33-13 win over Clinton.
