All of the history, tradition and vast success the Cazenovia football team has gained through the decades meant little in the face of a turnover wave that helped deliver Homer its first Section III Class B championship since 2005.
Seven different takeaways, five of them in the first half, doomed the Lakers in a 38-24 defeat to the Trojans Sunday afternoon in the Class B title game at the Carrier Dome.
To its credit, Cazenovia nearly overcame these mistakes, whittling a 19-point deficit to seven in the fourth quarter. But it ultimately gave way to a patient, resilient Homer attack anchored by senior tailback Alec Bush, who gained 289 yards on 41 carries, and Jayden Gavidia, whose 40-yard touchdown with 2:31 left thwarted the Lakers’ rally.
All season long, Cazenovia and Homer, no. 3 and 4, respectively, in the state Class B rankings, had eyed each other while building 9-0 records. Their regular-season wins were lopsided, as were their opening-round sectional playoff games.
Even their sectional semifinal wins on Nov. 1 at Chittenango were similar, the Lakers struggling with Westhill and the Trojans getting pushed by Oneida before each emerged victorious with late-game surges.
Where Cazenovia seemed to have a massive edge was in championship-game experience, playing for a third straight sectional title as Homer was in the finals for the first time since that sectional victory nine years earlier.
There certainly wasn’t any fear on the first play from scrimmage. Going deep, Keaton Ackermann found T.J. Connellan in stride and he was gone, 72 yards to the end zone. Even with a missed extra point, Cazenovia had a 6-0 lead just 14 seconds into the game.
The Lakers kept Homer out of the end zone on its first possession, making a third-down stop at the 12-yard line and forcing the Trojans to settle for Joel Christopher’s 29-yard field goal.
From that point, though, the turnover plague hit Cazenovia hard.
The giveaways began when Jake Wozniak fumbled near midfield and Anthony Basile fell on it at the Lakers’ 46. Then Dylan Williams-Bachman picked off Ackermann on another deep throw later in the first quarter.
Neither of those takeaways led to points, thanks to Cazenovia’s defense, but a fumbled option pitch early in the second quarter that Chris Birchenough fell on at Cazenovia’s 19 did get converted, Bush (who had 137 first-half rushing yards on 27 carries) going one yard for the go-ahead TD to put Homer up 10-6.
And a fourth turnover followed when Dean Riley stepped in front of Ackermann’s deep pass at the Homer 37. Again, the Lakers’ defense forced a punt, but its hard work was taking a gradual toll, which manifested itself when the Trojans got back the ball.
On fourth down at the Lakers’ 46, Homer faked a punt, and Drew Cottrell threw a 21-yard pass to Riley. One play later, Cottrell, back under center, found Gavidia in the end zone for a 25-yard scoring pass with 1:21 left in the half.
Trailing 17-6 at the break, the Lakers’ problems went beyond hanging on to the ball. Since that first-play TD, Cazenovia had only picked up 53 total yards, and it had to find some kind of offensive spark to have any chance of catching up.
That spark did not immediately materialize. Instead, after a fourth-down stop of Bush deep in its own territory late in the third quarter, the Lakers turned it over a fifth time on the very next play, Riley recovering Ackermann’s fumble at the Lakers’ 22.
Three plays later, Cottrell threw a lateral to the right, and Jake Hayes found Riley in the end zone from 20 yards out, the TD extending Homer’s lead to 24-6.
Even when the Lakers put together a scoring drive and Ackermann threw a 20-yard scoring pass to Jake Shaffner on the first play of the fourth quarter, Homer answered with Bush taking a toss and outrunning the Cazenovia defenders 65 yards to the end zone
Now facing a 31-12 deficit, Cazenovia kept fighting back, Ackermann running 25 yards to set up his own 18-yard scoring pass to Sam Langan on a slant with 8:21 left.
Gaining confidence, Cazenovia got the ball back and, on an option pitch, Dan Phillips, who had nearly fumbled one play earlier, went 36 yards for a TD, and cut the defcit to 31-24, with 5:19 to play.
Even with that comeback, though, the Trojans did not panic. Instead, it moved to Cazenovia’s 40 and, on a misdirection, freed Gavidia down the left sideline for another long scoring play.
When Connellan was stripped of the ball on the ensuing kickoff and Williams-Bachman recovered it, the Lakers’ last chance to rally was snuffed out. A last-second interception made it seven turnovers, and Homer was on its way to a confrontation with Maine-Endwell and its 48-game win streak in the regional playoffs.
