Two sequences of two plays, within seconds of each other, helped the Cazenovia football team to another Section III semifinal – and sent Marcellus home with more frustration.
The Lakers’ dirty, sweaty and muddy 14-6 victory over the Mustangs in Saturday’s Class B quarterfinal at Buckley-Volo Field was not a display of high-scoring offensive sophistication or fancy play-calling.
Rather, it was two sides getting into trenches and, for the most part, shutting each other down. In fact, the game lingered deep into the third quarter 0-0, with little real indication that Cazenovia or Marcellus was going to bend.
Finally, though, the game turned in the Lakers’ favor, in part because one errant play by Doyle Judge led to sweet redemption.
With the game still in that 0-0 stalemate, Cazenovia had moved into real scoring position for the first time midway through the third quarter on ‘Wildcat’ quarterback Andrew Vogl’s 25-yard run to the Mustangs’ 18-yard line.
Stopped on third down at the 11, the Lakers turned to Judge, who lined up for a possible go-ahead field goal from 27 yards out. Judge hit it plenty – but also hit it wide right.
Judge said that, as he lined up on defense for the next play at his cornerback slot, he “was trying to erase it (the kick) from that memory. Needless to say, he did so.
From his own 20, Marcellus quarterback Kyle Hastings tried for a swing pass to the right side. Judge, reading it all the way, broke in front of the receiver, picked it off and was gone to the end zone, a 23-yard touchdown that, combined with his own extra point, gave Cazenovia a 7-0 lead.
It only figured that Judge, who caught the winning TD pass in the final minute of the Lakers’ 13-10 victory over Chittenango on Oct. 14, made the biggest play of this game, too.
“He’s just a heady player,” said Cazenovia head coach Tom Neidl.
Also, it figured that the Lakers’ defense put up the game’s first points. Strengthened by the return of two key players in the front seven, David Ayer and Nick Petrovich, from injury (they both missed last week’s 13-10 win over Chittenango), Cazenovia only let Marcellus cross into Laker territory twice in the first half.
From Ayer, Alex Slamczynski, Matt Staiger and Cameron Braathen on the front line to Petrovich, Billy Bigsby, Barclay Talbot and Darian Smith at linebacker to Judge, Joe Colligan and David McEntee in the secondary, every Laker defender had an equal part in the Lakers’ overwhelming defensive effort.
Just the same, though, Marcellus defenders like Jason Decker, Rodney Coffey, Nick Nye, Duncan Merritt and Pat Cooper did a superb job cutting down most of what Cazenovia wanted to do.
In turn, it kept the game within reach, allowing the Mustangs to think it could avenge the bitter 16-14 defeat to these same Lakers in last year’s sectional semifinal.
Then came another damaging two-play sequence at the start of the fourth quarter. Merritt, replacing an ailing Kyle Hastings at quarterback, threw a deep pass that Tanner Whiteman picked off at midfield and returned to the Marcellus 40.
On the very next play, Vogl faked an option pitch and took off up the middle, streaking to the end zone for his team’s lone offensive TD of the day.
Still, the Mustangs weren’t done. It broke one big play when, on third down with 8:24 left, Brad Kermes took Merritt’s screen pass and took off 61 yards to the Lakers’ end zone. A missed PAT kept the margin at eight points.
Marcellus never got a real chance to tie it, though, pinned deep in its own territory down the stretch. Worse yet, Merritt also went out with an injury, leaving Nye as the lone signal-calller, and he couldn’t get a scoring drive put together as the Lakers closed things out.
A very familiar sight – Oneida – awaits Cazenovia in Saturday’s Class B semifinal, set for noon at Chittenango. These same Indians have lost to these same Lakers three times in the last two seasons, including a 21-6 decision back on Sept. 10 at Buckley-Volo.
Since then, Oneida has gone 5-1, including a 30-6 first-round playoff win at Mexico where sophomore running back Dylan Cafalone scored four touchdowns, three of them in the fourth quarter. So the Lakers have plenty of work to do before it can think about a return to the Carrier Dome for the Nov. 5 sectional final against Chittenango or Camden, who play in the other semifinal Saturday at Central Square.
“It’s just going to be a battle,” said Neidl, and Judge agreed. “It’s going to be intense, and it’s going to come down to who makes plays,” he said.
