Having done their parts for the past six weeks, the undefeated football teams from Cazenovia and Oneida are ready to decide the Class B East regular-season championship on Friday night.
When it faces the Indians, the state Class B no. 3-ranked Lakers will carry plenty of confidence, flowing from an offense that showed more potency in Saturday’s 48-7 victory over Vernon-Verona-Sherrill at Buckley-Volo Field.
T.J Connellan led the way, scoring three touchdowns and gaining 78 yards on the ground on just five carries. He was part of a well-balanced ground attack that saw quarterback Keaton Ackermann rush for 108 yards on 10 carries and Dan Phillips add 80 yards on 11 carries.
All of this was a stark contrast to what had happened the night before. Oneida, no. 6 in the state Class B rankings, had hosted Mexico, the same team Cazenovia blew out 41-7 seven days earlier, and trailed most of the night, requiring a Rory McCarthy TD run midway through the fourth quarter to edge the Tigers 27-26.
Having seen that, Cazenovia was not about to take 2-3 VVS lightly, nor look ahead to Oneida. Plus, it was Senior Day, and the Laker seniors, having never lost on the Buckley-Volo grass, wanted to maintain that home-field domination.
On its first offensive possession, Phillips set the tone, breaking loose for a 33-yard run, leading to Jake Woziniak scoring from 15 yards out and a 7-0 Cazenovia lead with the game barely three minutes old.
With the Lakers’ defense shutting down anything the Red Devils tried, Cazenovia didn’t sweat much when it fumbled inside the VVS 20 early in the second quarter. Instead, it got the ball back and drove right back into scoring position, this time finishing it off with Connellan’s first TD, a 17-yard run.
But Connellan was far from done. He promptly intercepted a pass on the next VVS offensive play, and then, when the Lakers faced fourth down at the Red Devils’ 45, he took a handoff, found a hole and was gone to the end zone for a second time.
Not to be left out, Cazenovia’s special teams would strike when Wozniak blocked a punt at the VVS 13. With 33.8 seconds left in the half, Wozniak caught Ackermann’s 21-yard pass in the end zone.
Thus, in less than four minutes of game time, the Lakers had rattled off 19 unanswered points, turning a tight game into a 26-0 margin at the break.
Still, the Lakers wanted more. From his own 14 early in the third quarter, Ackermann threw a lateral to Jake Shaffner, but instead of taking off, Shaffner threw deep – and found Connellan, who went the rest of the way, 86 yards for the TD, adn Ackermann’s extra point made it 33-0.
A second blocked punt, this one from Ryan O’Herien, produced a safety. A five-play scoring drive followed the free kick, Ackermann going the final nine yards for the TD.
In the final period, Ackermann scored again, from seven yards out, and VVS finally got on the board, but only after the Lakers’ first-team defensive starters were gone, having pitched another shutout. Hayden Polhamus led the defense with 13 tackles, while Kevin Frega had eight tackles. Sam Langan recovered a fumble.
Oneida’s escape against Mexico followed wins over Camden (21-6) and VVS (29-21) earlier this season that were far closer than Cazenovia’s victories against those common opponents.
But they were still victories, and the Lakers know that the Indians want to avenge losses in both of their 2013 encounters, including a 14-0 shutout in the sectional final at the Carrier Dome, and will have a loud, boisterous home crowd to count on, too.
At the other end of the spectrum, Chittenango, just 1-4 on the season, had to face its own unbeaten opponent, state Class B no. 17-ranked Westhill, last Friday night, just hoping that the Warriors were looking ahead to its own showdown with Homer that would decide the B West division regular-season title.
But Westhill stayed in the moment and beat the Bears 51-13, doing most of the damage in a 35-point second quarter. Richie Easterly threw three TD passes in the first half, two of them to Donovan Whipple, while Ja’shai’ Jamison scored twice on his way to 100 yards on 17 carries.
It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that Chittenango got on the board. Mike Addison broke free on a 38-yard TD run, and Josh Diable followed it up minutes later with a seven-yard scoring pass to Duncah Smith. The Bears finish its regular season hosting Solvay Friday at 7 p.m.
