At least from the standpoint of the abbreviated regular season in 2012, the Bishop Ludden football team has clinched a winning record.
Big plays, including touchdowns from five different players, helped the Gaelic Knights record a 33-13 victory over Jordan-Elbridge in Friday night’s Class C West division battle.
Given the wet conditions, it was little surprise that the Gaelic Knights and Eagles (trying to break a three-game skid) played through a scoreless first quarter, waiting for someone to break through.
That happened early in the second period, on both sides. Ludden quarterback Zach Harding capped off a drive with a one-yard TD plunged, and J-E answered, moving to the Gaelic Knights’ two-yard line before Brad McMahon punched it in.
At that point, thanks to a missed Ludden conversion and Brian Matousek’s PAT, J-E owned a 7-6, but by halftime the Gaelic Knights had seized control.
Harding connected with Malik Stenson on a 35-yard scoring pass and Ludden went in front. Minutes later, Corey Wilkinson, who finished with 102 yards on the ground, had his most meaningful run of the night, a 26-yard dash to the end zone that made it 19-7 at the break.
Ludden could not match that pace of points in the second half, but didn’t need to, either, as its defense kept the Eagles off the board until Adam VanWart scored from two yards out in the late going.
By then, Anthony Pecoriello struck for a 46-yard TD run, and Harding had one more big pass, a 58-yard connection to Antoine Montgomery that counted for six points.
Both Ludden and J-E close the regular season with road games, the Gaelic Knights going to Onondaga and the Eagles facing Institute of Technology Central at Clary Middle School.
A very short drive from where Ludden and J-E squared off, Westhill took its shot at defending Section III Class B champion Chittenango, and could not handle the Bears in a 43-14 defeat.
Chittenango’s 4-0 start, culminated by a 42-0 shutout over previously unbeaten Homer on Sept. 21, had led to a no. 3 state Class B ranking.
That only increased the target on the Bears, and Westhill, 2-1 in league play going into the game, had a chance to move into first place – but Chittenango quickly disposed of those dreams.
Each of the Bears’ vaunted trio of backs would score in the first quarter as the visitors raced to a 21-0 lead. Kyle Zimmer raced 24 yards for one touchdown, Joe Gilona went three yards for another score and Devin Phelps provided the big blow, a 50-yard scoring run just before the period ended.
Of course, Chittenango’s superb senior quarterback was far from done. in the second quarter, Phelps put Westhill away by twice breaking free for long TD runs, of 53 and 40 yards, which increased the Bears’ margin to 35-0 as Steve Billington was a perfect five-for-five on extra-point attempts in the half.
Gilona added a second scoring run of six yards in the third quarter as he, along with fellow linebackers Zimmer, Billington, Gilona and Kyle Mills tried to get another shutout. But it wasn’t to be, as Westhill quarterback Rich Easterly threw TD passes of 34 and 64 yards to Dan Gratien in the late going. Overall, Easterly was 18-for-28 for 200 yards.
The Warriors, at 2-3 on the season, still could move up the Class B West standings if it can beat visiting Homer(4-1) next Friday at 6:30.
