True, the Westhill and Oneida football teams exist in far different forms than they did 11 months ago when they battled for the 2008 Section III Class B title.
Nonetheless, the Warriors’ 38-13 victory over the Indians Friday night served several purposes, aside from the fact that it moved Westhill to 6-0 as the lone unbeaten Class B team this season.
On a smaller level, it was a bit of payback for the ’08 final, where Oneida won 20-0, not to mention a 50-7 romp by the Indians in the regular season.
But on a larger level, it was a bold statement to all other Class B contenders that getting through the Warriors will be a difficult task.
And it was the best night of quarterback Jeff Law’s career, as he threw for four touchdown passes and ran for another. Overall, Law completed 16 of 24 passes for 242 yards.
Both sides welcomed key players back from injury. In the Warriors’ case, that meant running back Tyler Nigolian, who had missed two games due to injury.
Kevin Wilson had done a solid job in Nigolian’s place, but the threat of a full running game only made Law and his potent trio of receievers – Dan Ross, Nate Nigolian and Tom Fisher – more dangerous. And each of them would catch a touchdown pass before the first half was over.
Law was close to flawless in the first half, on many fronts. Taking the opening kickoff, Westhill drove 64 yards in five-plus minutes, twice converting third downs with successful passes – one to Nigolian, the other to Ross.
And on fourth-down-and-two at Oneida’s 19-yard line, after going to the wings, Law threw to the middle – and found Fisher in the end zone.
The next time Westhill had the ball, Law found a new way to hurt the Indians. Taking off from the 50-yard line, Law tore down the left sideline and beat all the Oneida defenders to the end zone for the longest TD run of his varsity career. A two-point pass to Ross made it 14-0.
Early in the second quarter, from Oneida’s 32, Law went deep and Nate Nigolian, in single coverage, caught it at the goal line to make it 21-0. Law was making it look quite simple.
Oneida cut the margin to 21-7 when Nate Mallinder caught a short pass from Jeremy Rodriguez and ran over tacklers on a 25-yard jaunt to the end zone, and as time wound down in the second quarter, it looked like that would be the margin.
Then came the last play of the half.
From the Indians’ 43-yard line, Law had one option – go deep to Ross. Oneida knew what was coming and put two defenders on Ross, but the senior wide receiver still came up with the ball on the five-yard line and battled his way past the goal line with no time left.
Instead of a reasonable margin, it was now 28-7, and as it turned out, the Warriors were out of reach.
Oneida did score again, late in the third quarter on Chris Chesebro’s seven-yard TD run, to make it 28-13. But R.J. Chester hit a 27-yard field goal early in the final period, and Law found Ross one more time for a 27-yard scoring pass, his fourth TD pass of the night. Ross caught nine of Law’s passes for 135 yards.
Westhill finishes the regular season next Friday at Earl Hadley Stadium against its neighbors from Solvay, who are 2-4 following a 32-6 loss to Marcellus.
At the same time, Oneida (4-2) hosts its archrival, Vernon Verona Sherrill, with the result going a long way toward determining who takes the Class B East division regular-season championship.
