Nearing the end of September, the Cazenovia and Chittenango football teams are the dominant forces in their respective Section III Class B divisions.
On consecutive days, that fact got reinforced with back-to-back home routs. First, the Bears dismantled Mexico 36-6 on Friday night. Then it was the Lakers’ turn Saturday afternoon, and it tore into Holland Patent with a season-high point total in a 62-6 decision.
When it beat Homer on Sept. 15, Chittenango assumed sole possession of first place in the Class B West division. Sitting right behind them was Mexico, at 2-1, but the Bears made sure that the Tigers never really threatened them amid a steady, constant rain.
Again, Chittenango did this with a tough, physical ground game. Joe Gilona carried the ball 11 times for 123 yards and a touchdown, while fellow back Kyle Zimmer amassed 94 yards on 14 carries.
It was Zimmer that polished off a pair of first-quarter Chittenango drives with short touchdown runs, quickly putting the Bears ahead 14-0. Mexico briefly arose in the second period, cutting it to 14-6 on Ray Eastman’s 16-yard scoring run.
Calmly, Chittenango responded with another long drive that produced Zimmer’s third TD, on a one-yard plunge, and Steve Billington made his third straight extra point, so the Bears led 21-6 at the break.
All through the second half, Chittenango’s defense offered strong resistance, stifling the Eastman brothers, Ray and John, who form the bulk of Mexico’s attack.
Meanwhile, Gilona added a TD in the third quarter that made it 28-6, and Devin Christopher offered a strong finishing touch by sprinting 41 yards to the end zone in the final period. Gilona returned to catch a two-point pass from Devin Phelps.
With the Bears at 4-0, now Cazenovia took its turn on Saturday, delighting the fans at Buckley-Volo Field by unloading 42 first-half points on Holland Patent.
Jake Wilson and Andrew Vogl both topped 100 yards on the ground – Wilson with 132 yards, Vogl with 109 yards. And both would score in the first quarter, Wilson on an 11-yard run and Vogl from 32 yards out.
In between, Darian Smith got his turn with a 35-yard TD run, which helped break thing open after the Golden Knights notched its only points of the afternoon to cut the margin to 7-6.
Angry that it had allowed anything, Cazenovia’s dominant defense put points on the board early in the second quarter when lineman Alex Szlamczynski intercepted a pass deep in HP territory and returned it four yards for a TD.
Tanner Whiteman only threw the ball four times on this day, completing two of the passes – but one of them was a 31-yard scoring pass to Doyle Judge. That, plus Wilson’s second TD (on a five-yard run), had the Lakers up 42-6 at the half.
Before going to the bench in the fourth quarter, Wilson got his third TD on a 42-yard run in the third quarter, and Vogl found the end zone again from 22 yards out. David Ayer added a fourth-quarter TD, and David McEntee intercepted a pass for the second week in a row.
Cazenovia gets another road test next Saturday at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, who sits at 3-1 after it blanked Camden 21-0 in its most recent outing. Chittenango goes to 0-4 Solvay next Friday at 6:30.
