Even if post-season dreams remain distant for the Jordan-Elbridge and Bishop Ludden football teams, they both would score their second wins of the season in separate Friday-night contests.
The Eagles had the easier time of it, dominating from start to finish in 33-8 romp over Onondaga, while the Gaelic Knights needed a late touchdown to pull out a 22-18 decision over Hannibal.
In Ludden’s instance, it wasn’t really a road game, for though the Gaelic Knights were the visiting team, it was playing on the turf at Fulton High School, since Hannibal’s home field is undergoing repairs.
Still, it was the Warriors’ Homecoming game, and even with an 0-4 mark, it didn’t want Ludden spoiling the party, responding well after Tim Rooney opened the scoring by catching a seven-yard touchdown pass from Conlan McGuire in the first quarter.
Tim Webber nearly won the game by himself for the Warriors. He followed up a 10-yard TD run late in the opening period with an even bigger play in the second quarter.
Ludden had Hannibal pinned on its own three-yard line. But Warriors quarterback Trevor Alton threw deep, and Webber caught it, going the rest of the way for a 97-yard touchdown, and suddenly the Gaelic Knights trailed 12-7.
It got worse for Ludden in the third quarter, thanks to Webber’s third TD on a 21-yard strike from Alton that made it 18-7, but the Gaelic Knights did not panic, instead counting on Anthony Pecoriello’s big-play ability to pull out the win.
Pecoriello struck first with a 42-yard TD run late in the third period, and McGuire’s two-point pass to Rooney made it 18-15. Then, with Ludden on its own 35 in the final quarter, Pecoriello took a handoff, burst through a hole and beat all the Warriors’ defenders in a 65-yard dash to the end zone.
Taking it from there, Ludden’s defense blanked Hannibal the rest of the way, and the Gaelic Knights could now head into next Friday’s game against 5-0 Watertown IHC with some momentum.
J-E has that same good feeling as it pays a Friday visit to Canastota, this after taking apart a once-proud Onondaga that, like Hannibal, has not yet won a game in 2013.
It was 13-0 after one period, quarterback Austin Barrigar putting the Eagles on the board with a four-yard TD run before Lamatt Chisholm scored from two yards out late in the first quarter.
And Chisholm was just getting warmed up. He capped off another J-E drive with a five-yard TD run in the second period, and that, combined with Brad McMahon’s two-point conversion, had the Eagles up 21-0 on the Tigers at the half.
Just to be sure, J-E tacked on two more touchdowns in the second half, including Barrigar’s lone TD pass, a five-yard strike to Kyle Humberstone in the fourth quarter. The Eagles go on the road again Friday, this time to face Canastota.
