Everyone on the East Syracuse-Minoa football team knew exactly what it had to do to beat Watertown in Friday night’s opening round of the Section III Class A playoffs – namely, find some way to keep Watertown running back Tevion Cappe from repeating the 391-yard display he had put on against Camden a week earlier.
Sure enough, Cappe did not repeat that mark against the Spartans. He topped it.
By the time the Cyclones were done silencing the ESM Stadium crowd in a 58-16 decision, Cappe had registered an astonishing 458 yards, tying for the third-highest single-game total in state history, and had scored five touchdowns to help end the Spartans’ championship dreams.
ESM wasn’t alone in seeing its post-season run end in an abrupt manner. For the second year in a row, Jamesville-DeWitt made a Class A playoff visit to Whitesboro and, once again, could not do anything to stop the defending champion Warriors, who prevailed by a score of 62-7.
With Watertown, it all came back to Cappe, who ran wild from the opening whistle as Watertown quickly decided matters by getting 30 points in the first quarter alone and 50 points on the board by halftime.
On the Cyclones’ opening possession, Cappe ran 24 yards for a touchdown and also got the two-point conversion. A second drive produced a 49-yard Cappe sprint to the end zone and another two-point play. Not done yet, Cappe took off on a 69-yard TD dash that, with yet another conversion, made it 24-0. Finally, for some variety, Watertown quarterback Tyler Augliano scored from 18 yards out just before the period ended.
ESM’s defense had no chance to recover, either, because in the second quarter Cappe polished off a 68-yard TD run. And even when the Spartans finally got on the board with TD runs from Tyler Johnson (10 yards) and Jeff McDuffie (nine yards), the Cyclones would provide an answer.
Augliano closed out Watertown’s first-half blitz by connecting with Caleb Betts on a 34-yard scoring pass, then ran 25 yards for his team’s seventh TD of the half, making it 50-14 going into the break. The Cyclones would ease off in the second half, but only after Cappe had added one more TD run, of 14 yards.
Much the same thing was going on at Whitesboro, minus the record books. J-D, who had won three straight games following an 0-4 start, arrived with some confidence about its chances, but the Warriors wasted little time seizing command of the night.
Steve Almond got Whitesboro on the board with a pair of first-quarter TD runs, covering 11 and nine yards. And when Bradee Holtslag found Mike Sullivan in the end zone for a nine-yard scoring pass, the Red Rams trailed 21-0 going into the second period.
And it would get worse. J-D was driving toward a possible score when Mike Bunal stepped in front of a Ahkeen Williams pass and returned the interception 85 yards for a TD. Sullivan then returned to polish off a 64-yard TD run, the big plays increasing Whitesboro’s margin to 34-0 by halftime.
J-D would not get on the board until the fourth quarter, when Austin Tousaw would return a fumble 21 yards for a score and Chris Beaulieu added the extra point. Williams and the Rams’ offense never registered a point against Whitesboro’s stingy defense.
The Warriors advanced to next weekend’s Class A semifinal against Cortland, who blanked Camden 22-0 to get this far. Watertown will play Indian River (a 51-14 winner over Oswego) in the other semifinal, with the title game on Nov. 5 at the Carrier Dome. ESM will host the regional championships Nov. 11 and 12.
