If ever there was a time for the Cazenovia football team to piece together its most complete effort of the season, it was now.
With the Class B East division championship on the line, the Lakers went to Oneida Friday night and reminded everyone why it was the reigning Section III Class B champions, setting a season-high point total and smashing the Indians 64-18.
All the pieces were in place for a big-time showdown. Cazenovia, no. 3 in the state Class B rankings, and Oneida, in the no. 6 spot, both were 6-0, and their recent history ran deep, including last year’s sectional final in the Carrier Dome, a 14-0 Lakers win.
Yet it was clear, throughout this season, that Cazenovia had gone through fewer struggles on the way to those six wins than its opponent. Given all of its close calls (including a 27-26 escape over Mexico the week before), the Indians knew it had to improve a lot to reverse the trend of this series.
And for a fleeting moment, the home fans at Oneida had a reason to believe it could turn things around. After forcing a punt on the Lakers’ first series, the Indians saw Nate Mallinder return that kick 69 yards for a touchdown.
From that moment on, though, it was all Cazenovia.
Answering Mallinder’s big play, the Lakers put together a long, methodical drive that took up a large portion of the first-quarter clock and led to a two-yard scoring run by T.J. Connellan. Keaton Ackermann’s extra point put Cazenovia in front, 7-6.
If that was impressive, the next Laker drive was even better – 80 yards in 15 plays, the key moment a 21-yard pass from Ackermann to Sam Langan, with the Cazenovia quarterback going the final seven yards for the score and adding the PAT.
That was just the start, though, to a late first-half eruption of 22 points in a span of barely more than five minutes that put the game out of Oneida’s reach.
Dan Phillips, on the very first play of the Lakers’ next possession, took a handoff on his own 17-yard line and, plowing through a hole in the line and running over a defender at midfield, went 83 yards to the end zone, making it 21-6.
Then, right after Cazenovia’s defense forced a turnover on downs at its own 45, Ackermann used a pair of long completions to set up Jake Wozniak’s three-yard scoring run, with Ackermann catching a two-point pass from Langan.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Lakers’ defense joined in the fun when, sniffing out an Oneida lateral deep in its own territory, it forced a fumble that Jon Nannery returned for a TD. That extended Cazenovia’s lead to 36-6, where it stood at halftime.
Far from done, the Lakers opened the third quarter with yet another scoring drive, Ackermann throwing a 17-yard scoring pass to Langan.
Finally, after 43 unanswered points, the Indians, having benched its starting quarterback, Rory McCarthy, due to the relentless pressure put on him by Cazenovia’s front line, broke the spell with Travis Moyer’s 31-yard scoring run, only to see Ackermann find the end zone again on a 12-yard run that moved Cazenovia to a 50-12 edge.
Twice in the fourth quarter, the Lakers picked up defensive scores, one on a safety, the other on Kevin Frega’s fumble recovery in the end zone. In between those plays, Phillips added another long TD run, from 52 yards out.
Phillips set a new career mark in this game, gaining 200 yards on 11 carries. Ackermann, aside from his 90 rushing yards on 14 carries, completed nine of 12 passes for 124 yards.
Cazenovia will be back on the grass at Buckley-Volo Field next Saturday to face its fellow Lakers from Skaneateles (3-4), the fourth-place finisher in Class B West, in the first round of the sectional Class B playoffs. The winner will go to the semifinals against Westhill (6-1) or Mexico (4-3).
