In many ways, Friday night’s renewal of the football rivalry between Skaneateles and Marcellus was everything a fan could want, with constant momentum shifts, an explosion of offense in the second half and big plays from both teams.
Yet it ended in a way Lakers fans could not have wanted, as it lost, 35-20, to the Mustangs despite its defense causing five turnovers – three recovered fumbles, plus a pair of interceptions from Connor Hill.
Like many of the other Skaneateles players, Hill had increased responsibility, serving, along with Griffin Lawson and James Hackler, as quarterbacks while Devin Callahan still waits for his early-season injury to heal.
The Lakers didn’t miss Callahan at all during its 40-13 win over Chittenango on Sept. 5 at Hyatt Stadium, in large part because its defense turned offensive, scoring three touchdowns off Bears turnovers.
Here, amid chilly conditions 40 degrees cooler than the summer heat of the season openers, Skaneateles reunited with Marcellus, who had scored 32 unanswered points a week earlier to erase a 22-point halftime deficit and beat Solvay 38-28, little dreaming that it would do much the same thing here, minus the comeback.
No one did any kind of rallying during a 0-0 first half full of penalties, bad snaps and other mental mistakes. Three times, Skaneateles caused Marcellus to turn it over, and twice it halted Mustang drives deep in its own territory.
Just 56 seconds into the third quarter, though, the drought was broken as the Mustangs’ Ian McGloon doing the honors by breaking through two tackles on a 45-yard touchdown run up the middle, which ignited a wild third quarter that included 35 combined points.
Recovering an onside kick following McGloon’s score, the Mustangs promptly committed its fourth turnover, and the Lakers turned it into its first TD when, on fourth down, Hill scored on a six-yard run. Not content with that, Hill intercepted Marcellus quarterback Mike Keegan less than two minutes later and, for good measure, caught Lawson’s 37-yard pass over the middle for the go-ahead score.
Now trailing 14-7, the Mustangs took all of 19 seconds to respond, the length of time it took McGloon to blast through a massive hole on the left side 64 yards for six more points, only to have Hill (who else?) block the PAT to keep the Lakers in front, 14-13.
By now, Tom Fiacchi had replaced Keegan, and it proved a timely subsitution. From his own 32 late in the period, Fiacchi threw to Will Coon over the middle, and the senior sped the rest of the way, 68 yards for the TD that, with Fiacchi’s two-point pass to Coon, put Marcellus ahead for good.
Early in the fourth quarter, Lawson’s 25-yard pass to Tommy Hagen set up Aubrey Leverich to score on a one-yard run, but now it was the Mustangs’ turn to block a conversion, and it clung to a 21-20 lead.
Whatever hopes the Lakers possessed, though, vanished on a pair of daring fourth-down calls by the Mustangs.
With 7:57 left, facing fourth-and-11 at the Skaneateles 36, Marcellus sent Fiacchi right on a run, only to have him throw back to McGloon on the left sideline. Following a series of blocks, McGloon went all the way for his third touchdown of the night.
That made it 28-20, and after Skaneateles went three and out, the Mustangs clinched it with 3:20 left, going for it again, this time on fourth-and-17 from the Lakers 31. Fiacchi threw to the corner of the end zone and Coon, despite good defensive coverage, hauled it in for the TD.
Now at 1-1, Skaneateles faces another tough road game in Class B West when it visits Westhill next Thursday at 7 p.m. in a game to be broadcast on Time Warner Cable Sports Channel.
The Warriors, under first-year head coach Jamie Casullo, have started 2-0, and come off a hard-fought 19-14 win over Solvay that required Richie Easterly’s 83-yard TD pass to Jesse Chester late in the fourth quarter for the decisive points.
