Fast finishes are fun, but the Marcellus football team was getting tired of waiting to play its best after the halftime break.

So the Mustangs set out, in Friday’s game against visiting Chittenango, to assert itself early – and it did, unleashing its big-play offense in a manner that the Bears could not handle and excelling on defense, on the way to a 45-0 shutout victory.

That moved Marcellus to 3-0, both overall and in the Class B West division. And since it plays a non-league game at Ithaca this Friday, the Mustangs are assured of a tie for first place in the league standings when it has its showdown with visiting Westhill (off to its own 3-0 start) on Oct. 3.

Just to get those first two wins, the Mustangs had to score 32 unanswered points in the second half to rally past Solvay 38-28 on Sept. 5 and, a week later, put up all 35 of its points in the last two periods against neighbor and rival Skaneateles to win 35-20.

That showed just how quick and lethal the Mustangs’ set of skill players, particularly running back Ian McGloon and wide receiver Will Coon, could be. But against Chittenango, McGloon did not wait until the third quarter to strike a decisive blow.

Already, Mike Keegan had scored on an 11-yard run when, late in the first quarter, McGloon went 36 yards for a touchdown that made it 13-0.

Then, early in the second period, the Mustangs had the ball on its own 14-yard line. Taking a handoff, McGloon, with great blocking from the Marcellus front line, took off, 86 yards to the other end zone.

Keegan found his fellow quarterback, Tom Fiacchi, on a 23-yard scoring pass, and that made it 25-0 at halftime, a far better situation than in the previous two weeks, though the Mustangs were far from done.

Coon, kept quiet for much of the game, broke free in the third quarter, catching TD passes of 49 yards from Keegan and 55 yards from Fiacchi. Keegan then added a second scoring run of three yards in the final period.

While Marcellus was rolling, Solvay was reeling, mainly from the overwhelming force of Homer during a 65-14 defeat to the Trojans in its first road game of the season.

Those tough home losses to Marcellus and Westhill (the latter a 19-14 decision Sept. 12 decided on a long fourth-quarter TD pass from Richie Easterly to Jesse Chester) were difficult enough to swallow without having someone like state Class B no. 13-ranked Homer, who had piled up 127 points in season-opening wins over Phoenix (72-6) and Cortland (55-6), waiting for them.

Showing little sympathy, the Trojans scored 49 unanswered points in the first half, running over the Bearcats’ defense, especially Alec Bush, who three times found the end zone on runs of 42, 52 and 68 yards as he would gain 187 yards on just seven carries.

Homer also got a pair of first-half TD’s from Jayden Gavidia, who returned a punt 61 yards for one score and caught a 30-yard pass from Drew Cottrell for another. Chris Birchenough added a 32-yard scoring run on his way to 103 yards on the ground.

Forced to the air, Solvay saw quarterback Brandon Franklin complete 13 of 28 passes for 157 yards, throwing a pair of interceptions, but also getting an eight-yard TD pass to Jake Dippold in the second half as Nick Perry ran six yards for the Beracats’ other score.

Defensively, John Dippold had a team-high nine tackles, while Mike Cimino added six tackles. Jesse Call had five tackles as Caleb Simpson and Lewis St. Andrew had four tackles apiece.