Nothing is new or different with the Cazenovia football team – which is just how the Lakers and all its followers like it.
With sole possession of first place in the Class B East division on the line, the Lakers put on an all-around clinic and rolled past Camden 40-7 Saturday night at Rome Free Academy Stadium to improve to 3-0 on the season.
And the Lakers are alone at the top because Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, who also started the week 2-0, lost Saturday night to South Jefferson in a 27-24.
Playing in Rome because Camden’s home turf is being replaced, the Lakers’ defense, so effective in a 21-6 victory over Oneida the week before, now zeroed in on Colby Stratton, the Blue Devils’ multi-talented quarterback who had led his side to a 2-0 start. And it forced Stratton into a pair of first-quarter turnovers that led to a 10-0 Cazenovia advantage.
On the opening kickoff, Cazenovia pinned Camden deep in its own end, forcing a short punt from the end zone. Taking over on the Blue Devils’ 23, the Lakers only got five yards on three plays, but Doyle Judge drilled a 36-yard field goal, putting the Lakers up 3-0.
Stratton, on a scramble, fumbled midway through the period, and Jack Malmsheimer recovered at the Lakers’ 47. Though that didn’t get any points there, it was different when Judge intercepted a deep Stratton throw in the last minute of the period.
Judge returned that errant pass to the Blue Devils’ 17. On the very next play, Jake Wilson took an option pitch down the far sideline and stretched into the end zone. The extra point made it 10-0.
Early in the second quarter, a third trip into Blue Devil territory produced the Lakers’ first sustained drive, Wilson and Tanner Whiteman biting off big chunks of yards. On fourth-and-two at the 20, the Lakers again went left with the option, again gave it to Wilson – and again watched him take off for his second TD of the night.
And with the Lakers’ defense in top form, the 16-0 margin appeared twice as large. Camden managed just two first downs for the entire half, its running and passing game both rendered ineffective byCazenovia’s speedy, physical front seven.
As the half wound down, Cazenovia moved from its own 16 on a series of passes, mostly to Smith, who had catches of 21 and 15 yards, the latter on a third-down pass where he was leveled by a Camden defender, but held on to the ball.
Aided, too, by a late hit on Whiteman when he was scrambling out of bounds, the Lakers completed the 66-yard march when Judge boomed a 35-yard field goal through the uprights.
Up 19-0 at the break, Cazenovia appeared ready to add to the margin to when Wilson returned the second-half kickoff 80 yards to the Blue Devils’ 10. But Whiteman fumbled on the next play and Camden recovered.
For the rest of the period, the Lakers’ defense got fully tested, as three times Camden drove into Cazeonvia territory, but did not score a point – in fact, it would give up seven more.
In the second of those drives, Camden reached Cazenovia’s 13 late in the period. After a pair of penalties pushed the Blue Devils back, Stratton threw a sideline pass – and David McEntee jumped in front, made the interception and returned it 80 yards, untouched, for a touchdown. That, with Judge’s PAT, made it 26-0 and put it out of reach.
The Lakers added two more scores, by Wilson and Andrew Vogl, in the fourth quarter, and only lost the shutout because Camden put in a late TD against Cazenovia’s second string.
Cazenovia returns home to Buckley-Volo Field next Saturday to face Holland Patent (0-3) at 1:30. The Golden Knights are coming off a 26-6 loss to Oneida.
