When the West Genesee football team left the field last Friday night at Liverpool on the wrong end of a 42-24 decision, it had some apprehension about what the future would bring.
By the time they got back to Camillus, though, everything was happy, due to events elsewhere.
Specifically, CBA had bailed out the Wildcats, using 19 fourth-quarter points to come from behind for a 33-20 win over Central Square.
Thus, instead of a three-way tie with CBA and Central Square for third place in the Class AA-1 division that may have left it out of the Section III playoffs, WG now tied for fourth place with the Red Hawks.
And because it had beaten Central Square 43-14 way back in the season opener on Sept. 5, the Wildcats would get a first-round sectional playoff date at undefeated, state no. 6-ranked Henninger, who went 7-0 in the regular season. Game time is Saturday at 1 p.m., with the winner bound for next weekend’s semifinals against Corcoran or Auburn.
It will mark the second time in as many weeks that WG is facing an undefeated side. Liverpool (coached by former Wildcats head man Dave Mancuso),despite its 6-0 start, had still not cracked the state rankings, and in pursuit of its first perfect run through the regular season since 1998, it wanted to state a case for that ranking.
But It didn’t prove that easy at first, despite Ricky Sisto putting Liverpool on the board with a 22-yard scoring pass to Matt Sala that provided an early 7-0 lead. WG answered with its own scoring drive, finished when quarterback Dashon Turner scrambled for a TD from 13 yards out.
Liverpool’s star junior tailback, Jaydakis Scott, began to assert himself when he took a screen pass from Sisto at his own 40-yard line and, finding open field, beat all of the Wildcats’ defenders on a 60-yard sprint to the end zone. Still, WG didn’t flinch, pulling within 14-10 on Will Northrop’s 36-yard field goal in the second quarter.
Late in the half, though, Scott really took over, finding the end zone on a 37-yard run, followed by Mike Wright foregoing an extra point to throw a two-point pass to Zach Khatib. Minutes later, the Warriors had the ball back and, from 23 yards, Scott netted his third TD, which made it 28-10 going into halftime.
Twice in the second half, the Wildcats scored, on Josh Mattice’s fumble return and James Kerr’s four-yard run, which was set up by a fumble that Northrop caused Both times, Liverpool answered and restored its margin, Sisto finding Joe Scro on a 53-yard scoring pass and Scott netting his fourth TD on a 32-yard run in the final minute to ice it.
