Hitting the midway point of the 2010 regular season, the Canastota football team is poised atop the Class C South division.
Moving to 3-0 in league play (3-1 overall), the Raiders rode a powerful ground game and another strong defensive effort to a 38-14 home victory over Clinton on Friday night.
Canastota stayed patient through a scoreless first quarter as, gradually, it started to improve its field position. Then, early in the second period, a bad Clinton snap led to Jamie Meade recording a safety, and the spark was lit for 18 unanswered points before the half.
Off the ensuing free kick, Canastota needed just six plays to get its first touchdown, Zach Zupan scoring on a six-yard run and also getting the two-pont conversion to make it 10-0.
Again the Raiders made a defensive stop and forced a punt. Again it took the ball right down the field scored, Zupan and Jeff Merrell gobbling up big gains until Zupan scored on a one-yard plunge. When Alex Foster found Merrell in the end zone for another conversion, Canastota led 18-0 going into the break.
Two more scoring drives put it away in the third quarter, each of them ending on one-yard touchdown plunges – one by Zupan, the other by Kyle Sandford. Ryan Carswell tacked on a 25-yard TD sprint in the fourth quarter.
Behind the strong blocking of Jim Campanaro, Charlie Smith, A.J. Salay, Zach LaFlair, Fred Sherman and Taylor Gleeson, Zupan finished with a season-best 105 yards on 18 carries. Merrell was close behind, carrying the ball 13 times for 89 yards. The Raiders are home again next Saturday to face Herkimer at 7 p.m.
Outside of Class B league play, Oneida went to Mount Markham and made it three wins in a row, pounding the Mustangs by a score of 49-6.
Not even needing to pass much, the Indians piled up 406 rushing yards on the ground, nearly half of them from Patrick Tayntor, who had 15 carries for a career-best 182 yards.
A pair of Mount Markham turnovers led to both of Oneida’s scores in the first quarter. Eric Riley’s interception set up Matt Mosack’s 35-yard scoring pass to Evan Watson, and a fumble on the ensuing kickoff produced a short scoring drive, Chris Chesebro going the final three yards to make it 15-0.
Chesebro, who also broke the century mark (108 yards, to be exact), scored for the second time on a seven-yard run before Tayntor broke loose for a 45-yard TD sprint that made it 28-0 going into halftime.
The third quarter brought more of the same – Chesebro grinding out a 10-yard TD run, then Tayntor sprinting past Mustang defenders on a 77-yard sprint to the end zone. The Indians’ defense got on the board when Jeremy Giarusso returned yet another Mount Markham fumble 45 yards for a TD in the final period.
While Oneida and Canastota won big, Chittenango could not put much points on the board during Friday’s 21-7 defeat to the Homer Trojans.
Both teams came in with 2-1 marks, and they played on even terms in the first half. Homer moved ahead on Andy Parker’s 45-yard TD run in the opening period, but the Bears countered with Luke Bicknell finding the end zone on a two-yard run in the second quarter.
So it was 7-7 at the break, but Chittenango would not score again as the Trojans’ defense clamped down. In fact, it was that defense that would move Homer ahead when Frank Davis took back a Chittenango fumble 26 yards for the go-ahead TD in the third quarter.
Davis would tack on a 25-yard scoring run in the final period. Parker ran for 150 yards as, in defeat, Bicknell again topped the 100-yard mark – 108, to be exact, though it took 26 carries to get it.
At 2-2 on the season (1-1 league), Chittenango hosts Vernon Verona Sherrill in a key Class B East contest next Friday, while Oneida also is at home to face the league’s other top team, Cazenovia. Both games start at 7 p.m.