It took until October for the Solvay and Bishop Ludden football teams to taste victory for the first time this fall – a feeling with which Jordan-Elbridge is quite familiar.
The Bearcats shook off its 0-4 start and made Homecoming at Al Merola Field a happy one last Friday night, defeating Phoenix 44-27 as Ludden went on the road to beat Port Byron/Union Springs 24-20 and J-E, moving to 4-1 on the season, routed Tully 58-14.
Of the three, Solvay had, perhaps, the most overdue recognition for its efforts. Ever since it let a 28-6 halftime lead slip away in its 38-28 defeat to Marcellus in the Sept. 5 opener, things had gone downhill, and only a win over a Phoenix side with a similar 0-4 mark could turn things around.
Even here, though, the Bearcats fell behind in the first quarter, victimized three times by Tim Gandino touchdown runs of 73, 17 and 68 yards.
Solvay countered with Ben Durst going 45 yards for one TD and Garrett Lee returning the kickoff after Gandino’s second score 81 yards for six points. Despite this, the Firebirds led 19-12, and held that advantage until halftime.
Now, though, it was the Bearcats’ turn for a late comeback, and Nick Perry led the charge. Twice in the third quarter, Perry reached the end zone on runs of 12 and 10 yards, and each time followed up with two-point conversions.
Then Perry, who finished with 185 yards on 29 carries, answered Gandino’s fourth TD on a 59-yard run that cut the margin to 28-27 by scoring twice more in the period, on modest two and seven-yard runs, while again finding the end zone for two points to help put things away.
Durst, for his part, had 14 carries for 102 yards. Defensively, John Dippold and Brett Pidkaminy each picked up eight tackles, with Dustin Harris adding seven tackles. Brandon Bamba and Michael Cimino had five tackles apiece.
Having also gone winless through September, Ludden was determined to stop the skid, and a struggling Port Byron/Union Springs side could not quite keep the Gaelic Knights fro that goal.
On its first possession, Ludden found the end zone, Donovan Card scoring on a one-yard run. PB/US countered with Dan Burns going deep to find Austin Parker on an 87-yard TD pass, only to have Card return the ensuing kickoff 50 yards for six points.
So the Gaelic Knights led, 12-6, and when Travis Cote, on defense, stripped Burns of the ball and returned it to the end zone, the margin doubled to 18-6 as the teams went to halftime.
Much of third quarter belonged to PB/US, with Parker going 61 yards for a TD and the Panthers also putting together a longer drive that bled into the final period before Trae Tororici scored from the one with 10:33 to left.
Now trailing 20-18, the Gaelic Knights could have felt discouraged but, instead, showed considerable resolve, driving midway through the period and seeing Sh’ikem Lee score from the one with 3:04 left, getting Ludden back in front again.
An interception seconds later allowed the Gaelic Knights to run out the clock, and it was now 1-4 –the reverse of J-E’s record, as the Eagles, fresh off routing Ludden the night before, did much the same thing to Tully.
It was actually a 6-6 game through one period, but any doubt about the outcome vanished when the Eagles victimized the Black Knights with 24 unanswered points to get a 30-6 halftime lead. Then it scored twice more in the third quarter to make it 46-6 before Tully slowed things up a bit in the final minutes.
J-E gets its turn against Port Byron/Union Springs this Friday, just as Ludden hosts Class C West leader Syracuse Institute of Technology Central and Solvay, seeking back-to-back wins, hosts Cortland on Senior Night at “The Pit”.
