No matter who runs the show, the Skaneateles football team manages to find the same happy result – at least against Class C competition, anyway.
Sophomore Devan Callahan debuted at quarterback for the Lakers in Friday night’s game against Hannibal at Hyatt Stadium and made it a successful one, throwing three first-half touchdown passes as the Lakers rolled past the Warriors 51-7.
Skaneateles faced various challenges on this night. It was coming off a 25-13 defeat to Homer, the Lakers’ first regular-season loss since 2010, so it had to show that it could respond to a loss.
Not only that, but Tyler Parr, the Lakers’ top quarterback, was out with an injury, so Callahan had to fill in. Against an 0-2 Hannibal side, he would make sure that the Warriors did not deal Skaneateles back-to-back defeats.
Though the Lakers muffed the opening kickoff, it stopped Hannibal’s first scoring chances, and Callahan promptly moved his team down the field to the Warriors’ 21-yard line, from where Mike Lee pounded in for the touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
Then the Skaneateles passing game found its high gear, peppering the Hannibal secondary with completions until Callahan found Collin Jones in the end zone from nine yards out with 3:08 left in the first quarter.
Just 16 seconds into the second period, the margin grew to 20-0 as Callahan tossed his second TD pass of the night, 23 yards to Connor Hill. Hill wasn’t done, either, as he picked off a Warrior pass near midfield and ran it back 54 yards for six more points barely two minutes later.
To complete a near-flawless first half, the Lakers drove to Hannibal’s 10-yard line, from where Callahan, nine-for-11 for 95 yards in the half, found Jones for the TD just 6.8 seconds before the break.
It helped Callahan that the Lakers’ ground game was so effective. Lee finished with 125 yards, while John Parsons broke loose for 32 of his 95 yards on a TD run in the third quarter, with Cameron Recardo adding a 10-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter. Dan Alexander hit on a 32-yard field goal and converted six of seven extra points.
At 2-0 in Class C West play (2-1 overall), the Lakers visit Bishop Ludden next Friday at 7 p.m. The Gaelic Knights are 1-2 and coming off a 17-7 defeat to Canastota.
