All through the off-season, the Cazenovia football team had heard the talk about how much Camden wanted to earn payback for the 54-7 defeat it took last fall in the Section III Class B semifinals.
But when the two sides reunited for Friday night’s 2013 curtain-raiser, the exact same thing happened as the Lakers put away the mistake-prone Blue Devils by a score of 33-7.
Any hopes that Camden possessed got swept away due to its complete inability to hang on to the ball. Seven times, the Lakers forced turnovers, and it only figured that Kevin Hopsicker, best known for his quarterback duties, turned into a bigger factor on the other side of the line of scrimmage.
True, Hopsicker ran for 60 yards and a touchdown and threw for 85 yards and another score. But it was his three interceptions in the Cazenovia backfield that helped make sure the Blue Devils were never going to get close.
Throughout a scoreless first quarter, the Lakers found itself struggling to get any sort of production. But the defense was in mid-season form, as evidenced by a fourth-down stop inside its own 25-yard line that denied Camden a chance to gain a crucial early edge.
For its part, the Blue Devils thought it was going to get a crucial boost when it stopped Cazenovia inside its own five-yard line early in the second quarter. But two plays later, Camden botched a handoff, and before it could react, the ball was loose in the end zone and Billy Ranking was falling on it for a touchdown.
Camden’s next possession ended in a fumble, too, from Joe Muller, as it was forced and recovered by Ryman Seeley at his own 36. The Lakers set off on another drive, mixing Hopsicker runs with passes to Noah King (one covered 19 yards) before Andrew Vogl scored from three yards out.
Leading 14-0 at the break (Keaton Ackerman had gone two-for-two on extra points), the Lakers extended that margin on its first possession of the third quarter. Hopsicker went 17 yards and, when Camden tried to stop him, Vogl broke free for a 23-yard gain.
Hopsicker finished it off with an eight-yard TD run, which made it 20-0,and the first of Hopsicker’s interceptions led to Vogl breaking loose for his longest run of the night, a 58-yard dash to the end zone that accounted for more than a quarter of his eventual 222 yards on the ground, done on 28 carries.
Jeremy Zeitschel did score from nine yards out to get Camden on the board late in the third quarter, but that proved the exception. Twice more, the Lakers ended drives with fourth-down stops, and two other times Hopsicker stepped into errant passes.
Early in the fourth quarter, from Camden’s 31, the Lakers feinted a pass outside, but Hopsicker instead went over the top – and found Seeley in mid-stride for the game’s final touchdown.
Cazenovia has its home opener at Buckley-Volo Field next Saturday at 1:30 against the Class B East division’s newest member – Central Valley Academy. The combined Ilion and Mohawk squads, nicknamed the Thunder, are also 1-0 following a 30-9 win over Mexico in its first-ever varsity contest.
