Through decades of success, the Cazenovia football team may put up gaudy offensive numbers, but it always comes back to keeping the other team from getting on the board.
That was what the Lakers counted on, again, in Saturday’s Homecoming game against Holland Patent, getting its first points on a defensive play and working from there to a 26-0 shutout of the Golden Knights.
Still at the no. 3 spot in the state Class B rankings, Cazenovia was staring at a new, yet familiar, foe. Holland Patent was a long-time member of the Class B West division before spending several years in the Class C ranks. Enrollment changes brought the Golden Knights back for the 2014 season.
What it found, though, was the same old Cazenovia defensive machine. And it didn’t help HP that, in the previous two weeks, the Lakers had suffered some rare lapses in resistance, giving up 264 passing yards to South Jefferson quarterback Adam Hutchison on Sept. 13 and, six days later, watching Central Valley score 16 first-quarter points to create some early alarms.
Not happy with any of this, Cazenovia picked a good time to reestablish its defensive swagger. Brilliant sunshine and warm temperatures brought out a big Homecoming crowd, and Laker partisans would leave Buckley-Volo field with a tan – and also quite satisfied.
Any doubts about those defensive plans vanished in the first quarter, when defensive back Sam Langan stepped in front of an HP pass and returned it 21 yards for a touchdown.
Langan and Alex Devine anchored Cazenovia’s secondary, while in front of them Kevin Frega and the linebacker corps made plenty of crucial tackles and, on the line, Jake Shaffner, Jon Nannery and Reed Lucas overwhelmed the Golden Knights’ front five.
With that side of the ball in good hands, the offense could afford some patience. It was still 7-0 when, in the second quarter, running back Dan Phillips got a handoff and, following some strong blocks, went 74 yards for a touchdown, the longest of his varsity career.
That, plus Keaton Ackermann’s extra point, made it 14-0, but Cazenovia wanted to put the game away, and did so in the third quarter with another big run, this time from Ackermann, who on an option run sprinted 64 yards to the end zone.
Phillips returned later in the period and got his second TD on a seven-yard run, and even with a comfortable lead, the Lakers made sure HP didn’t get on the board to preserve the team’s first shutout of the season.
In contrast to Cazenovia keeping an opponent off the board, Chittenango didn’t score at all two nights earlier in a 52-0 defeat to state no. 10-ranked Homer.
Having already scored 192 points in its first three games, the Trojans executed another first-half blitz that featured 21 points in the opening period and 28 points in the second quarter.
Alec Bush led the charge for Homer, scoring five times, on everything from a one-yard plunge to longer TD runs of 50 and 64 runs. All told, Bush had 193 yards on 12 carries. Homer also featured Jayden Gavidia catching a 45-yard scoring pass from Drew Cottrell and returning a punt 56 yards for another TD.
To try to recover from this, Chittenango hosts Norwich next Friday, while Cazenovia puts its 4-0 mark on the line in a trip to Mexico, who is 3-1 and is coming off a last-second 15-14 win over South Jefferson. The Tigers are in third place behind the Lakers and Oneida (also 4-0) in the B East standings.
