With a defeat on its ledger and another quite possible, the Marcellus football team made an inspired stand late in Friday’s game at Homer and turned things around.
Big plays on both side of the ball, especially points registered on the defensive side by Chaz Hayes and Eric Lester, pushed the Mustangs to a 33-20 victory over Homer on the Trojans’ home turf.
Marcellus arrived at this game 1-1, still smarting from the bitter 9-7 defeat to its chief nemesis, Westhill, seven days earlier. Now it dealt with a Homer squad that had started 2-0 and had Class B West title ambitions of its own.
A close, tense contest completely turned when, leading 13-12, the Mustangs saw Homer move the ball deep into its own territory early in the fourth quarter.
Trojans quarterback Tom Austin threw to the sideline near the Mustangs’ goal line – and Hayes, the Mustangs’ leading receiver, jumped the route and picked off the pass at his own two-yard line. With plenty of speed and a crushing block from Zach Wiley in the middle of the return, Hayes went 98 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.
When Homer, now down 20-12, tried to catch up, the Mustangs’ defense produced another big play as Jason Decker’s big hit at the midfield stripe caused a fumble – and Lester scooped it up, bringing it back 50 yards for another TD.
Not that the Mustangs’ offense was quiet in this late surge, as senior running back Ricky Alfreds applied the final touches after Homer closed the gap to 27-20 on Austin’s 18-yard TD pass to Hunter Osborne and a subsequent two-point conversion.
Taking a handoff at his own 39-yard line, Alfreds ran into a pile of Homer defenders in the middle, then somehow tore through them, found the hole and didn’t stop until he was in the end zone 61 yards later for the game’s final touchdown. Overall, Alfreds ran for 117 yards on 11 carries.
Before all this, the Mustangs had twice come back on Homer. Trailing 6-0 in the first quarter, Marcellus put together a solid scoring drive that saw Alfreds go five yards for the TD and Chris Charles add the extra point.
Facing a 12-7 halftime deficit, the Mustangs turned to Duncan Merritt, who replaced Kyle Hastings at quarterback and led a second march to the end zone, Merritt going the last three yards for the go-ahead touchdown.
All the big plays would follow, rewarding another fine defensive effort. Wiley’s nine tackles included four sacks as Decker got nine tackles, too. Nick Nye had eight tackles, plus an interception, while Steve Raven recovered a fumble.
It leaves Marcellus at 2-1 as it returns home next Friday to face Skaneateles at 7 p.m.
Under first-year coach Tim Green, the Lakers, long a league doormat, have also started 2-1, so for the first time in a while the Marcellus-Skaneateles clash will have real meaning beyond the long-time stature of their rivalry.
Marcellus, of course, trails Westhill in Class B West, and on Saturday the Warriors improved to 3-0 by going to Hannibal and beating that other group of Warriors 34-15.
A 12-0 lead was gained in the first quarter as Alex Peebles and Matt Trendowski both scored on short TD runs, but it went cold in the second period and Hannibal notched a field goal to cut within 12-3 at the break.
Regaining control, Westhill got 16 unanswered points in the third quarter, as Trendowski induced a safety on the defensive side and also ran 18 yards for a touchdown. Dylan Krell also scored on a short plunge, and Nick Vitagliano contributed a 28-yard TD run in the final period.
Westhill will be favored to get its fourth straight win against Solvay (1-2) Friday at 7:30.
