Delighted to be at home after a pair of successful trips to open its 2009 season, Vernon Verona Sherrill’s football team kept its early-season momentum going.
All told, the Red Devils compiled 35 unanswered points in the first half of Saturday’s game against Phoenix on its way to a 55-22 romp of the Firebirds.
This was the Class B East division opener, and VVS, who had scored 85 total points in wins over Skaneateles and Marcellus, hit a higher gear in front of the home folks.
Tyler Mautner got it rolling in the first quarter, the junior quarterback going 28 yards to Tyler Curtis for the game’s first touchdown.
Two long drives followed, each of them punctuated by junior fullback Colin Way going one yard for the score. Cole Barbano rang up the extra point (one of five he converted in the first half), and it was 21-0 early in the second quarter.
Then it was the defense’s turn to shine, as right after his brother’s second TD, Dillon May stepped in front of a Phoenix pass and returned it 39 yards for another score. Colin Way returned for a third TD, on a 15-yard run, and it was 35-0 at the break.
VVS didn’t let up, even as the Firebirds finally got on the board in the third quarter. Twice in the third quarter, Mautner hit Curtis on touchdown passes — one of 28 yards, the other of 15 yards.
With the reserves all on the field in the fourth quarter, Anthony Rocco took his turn under center and earned his first TD pass, 22 yards to Caleb Wallace.
This started a three-game homestand, and the middle portion comes Saturday at 2 p.m. against Chittenango. The Bears are 1-2, but are coming off a 42-10 win over Skaneateles and won’t be that easy to stop.
