The Cazenovia football team’s latest rampage through overmatched and overwhelmed regular-season foes is nearly complete.
Making its last regular-season home date count as much as possible, the Lakers delighted the Senior Day/Homecoming crowd at Buckley-Volo Field with 35 first-half points and a 45-0 shutout of the Clinton Warriors.
Overall, in five wins Cazenovia has outscored its opponents 228-28, and 20 of those points came in a single game against Canastota on Sept. 12, meaning the Lakers have sprung three different shutouts.
This was a day special on many levels, including a moment of silence before the second quarter to honor Sam Volo, the long-time Cazenovia head coach who passed away on July 31. Volo won 137 games and 12 Tri-Valley championships in his tenure with the Lakers.
Of course, Cazenovia now resides in Class C South — or, to put it more accurately, it reigns over C South, as it showed by jumping out to a 21-0 lead on Clinton in the first quarter.
Jeff Hopsicker put the first points on the board, as the Laker quarterback sailed a 35-yard touchdown pass to Justin Hoffman. Chris Rogers’ extra point made it 7-0.
Then the Cazenovia defense struck, forcing a fumble that Liam Ryan recovered in the end zone to double the margin to 14-0. Before the quarter was out, Hopsicker burned the Warriors through the air again, 31 yards to Tom Colligan.
Wanting to get the work done early (again), Cazenovia added two more touchdowns in the second period. Chad Dorrance ran 25 yards for one score, while Hopsicker threw his third TD pass of the half, 35 yards to Doyle Judge.
Cazenovia kept the starters in until the third quarter, enough time for Rogers to boot a 28-yard field goal and Hopsicker to score on a one-yard sneak.
With four playoff rounds to soon navigate (at least one of them at home), the Lakers close the regular season Friday with a trip to Mount Markham, who sits at 3-2 following last Friday’s 21-0 shutout of Sherburne-Earlville.
