Before the Skaneateles football team could step into the realm of its most desirable match-ups, it first had to prove that its return to Class B competition would be, at the very least, a competent one.
That was accomplished – along with a lot more – in Friday night’s season opener at Hyatt Stadium, where the Lakers used all sorts of big plays from the offense and defense to handle Chittenango 40-13.
Now the hype can really begin about next Friday’s clash between rivals Skaneateles and Marcellus, a game made more important by the Mustangs’ astonishing second-half comeback from a 22-point deficit to get a 38-28 win over Solvay.
No such melodrama was found with the Lakers in its opening act. After three seasons of Class C competition, its promotion to its old home in the B West division would start with Chittenango, a team that reached sectional finals in 2011 and 2012, but missed the playoffs a season ago.
With the Bears breaking in lots of new starters and the Lakers far more polished on both sides of the ball, it didn’t take long for Skaneateles to assert control.
Linebacker Aubrey Leverich managed to force a fumble on Chittenango’s first possession. With the short field, the Lakers drove it to the Bears’ one, where Noah Cliff plunged in for the score.
But the Lakers, up 6-0, weren’t done forcing turnovers. With the Bears pinned deep in its own territory early in the second quarter, Skaneateles caused another fumble, this one in the end zone, and Zach Schneider fell on it for a defensive touchdown.
Then, after Connor Hill delivered a 51-yard TD run that made it 19-0, Chittenango tried to climb back in it, driving deep into Laker territory – only to see Tanner Cain pick off an errant Justin Gondeck pass and go 91 yards the other way for a back-breaking six points.
That play was made more important by the fact that the Bears’ Duncan Smith returned the ensuing kickoff 60 yards for Chittenango’s first TD. Thus, the Lakers, despite just two brief scoring drives, carried a 26-6 lead into the break.
Even with a comfortable margin, Skaneateles did not let up on the defensive side, getting a third TD on that side of the ball when Dan McLean returned yet another Gondeck interception 50 yards for the score in the third quarter.
Just to round it off, Gene Hackler added a 23-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter. Gondeck would throw a scoring pass of his own, 49 yards to Wyatt Myers, but it came far too late to save the Bears against the Lakers’ superb all-around effort.
