Following an absence in 2011, the Westhill football team is back in the Section III Class B playoffs, with a major challenge ahead.
The Warriors, who finished fourth in the Class B West division with a 2-3 mark (3-4 overall), will visit Cazenovia, the B East division regular-season champions, Saturday at Buckley-Volo Field. The winner will get to play in the semifinals against Homer or Camden.
With its league mark in place, Westhill closed the regular season with an impressive performance Saturday at Phoenix, putting up all kinds of points in a 66-22 victory over the Firebirds.
Four times in the first quarter, the Warriors earned points. Carson Hicks ran in from three yards out and Chris Brusa scored on an 18-yard run before Collin Henson connected on a 24-yard field goal to make it 17-0.
Even after Phoenix scored to cut it to 17-7, the Warriors applied a dagger in the waning moments of the period when Reed Derrenbacher hit Donovan Whipple on a 20-yard touchdown pass.
As a follow-up, Brusa added another TD in the second period, and an interception return for six points expanded the margin to 38-6 by halftime.
In the third quarter, Brusa added a third TD, again from three yards out, while Ja’Shai Jamison, Jashan Owens and Joe Rainone also scored, Rainone finding the end zone on a 65-yard run, the longest play of his varsity career.
Marcellus, who will miss out on the Class B sectionals, did put up quite a battle in last Friday’s game at Homer, but could not quite catch up in a 26-19 defeat to the playoff-bound Trojans.
Nick Nye got his team in front with a one-yard TD run in the first quarter, but Homer matched it with Mark Dove scoring from 30 yards out.
Another exchange followed in the second quarter. Trailing 12-6 after Casey Cleary’s 33-yard scoring pass to Jayden Davidia, the Mustangs moved to the Trojans’ two-yard line, from where Duncan Merritt barreled in. Nye’s PAT helped Marcellus take a 13-12 lead to the break.
The game turned, though, on the second-half kickoff, as Homer’s Jim Burkee brought it back 86 yards for a touchdown, which put his side ahead for good.
Burkee followed up with a 13-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter. Now trailing 26-12, the Mustangs cut the margin in half on Brad Kermes’ 31-yard TD run, but could not get any closer, falling to 1-6 on the season.
Solvay, going through its second consecutive winless regular season, fell at home to Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Friday night at 45-12 margin.
The Bearcats were down 14-0 in the second quarter when it finally got on the board. Nick Cometti, who has carried Solvay’s offense much of the season, scored on a 25-yard run, and Jake Callisto had a 35-yard TD sprint.
Despite all this, the Red Devils led 27-12 at halftime, and Solvay could not produce anything more as VVS pulled clear. Cometti, in defeat, ran for 95 yards on 18 carries, while Callisto had 55 yards on the ground, most of it on the touchdown.
Jordan-Elbridge, in a crossover game on Saturday night, lost 17-0 to Hamilton/Morrisville-Eaton. J.T. Metz’s pair of second-quarter touchdown passes to Lucas MaClaury, of 30 and 15 yards, put the Eagles behind as it fell to 1-6 on the season.
