Across the board, whether at home or trying to make an impact on the road, the area’s varsity football teams had a rough Friday evening.
West Genesee remained winless, unable to hold a second-half lead in its home opener against Nottingham and falling to the Bulldogs 32-20. Solvay also fell in its first home game of the season against defending Section III Class B champion Homer, who prevailed 34-14 to, like Nottingham, improve its record to 3-0.
Meanwhile, on the road, Westhill saw a double-digit fourth-quarter lead squandered in a 28-24 defeat to Skaneateles at Hyatt Stadium, and Marcellus could not fully recover from the early turnovers it gave to Chittenango as it lost, 28-18, to the undefeated Bears.
West Genesee, who had surrendered a combined 76 points in season-opening losses to Central Square and Corcoran, teased the home crowd at Mike Messere Field by erasing Nottingham’s 12-6 deficit with a pair of second-quarter touchdowns.
Yet that 20-12 halftime lead did not hold. WG’s offense went cold, blanked the rest of the way, giving the Bulldogs time to notch 20 unanswered points, 12 of them in the third quarter to move in front for good.
Dashon Turner attempted 28 passes, only completing eight of them for 82 yards and throwing a pair of interceptions. James Kerr ran for 100 yards on 22 carries and scored twice. WG visits Johnson City (Section IV) this Saturday at 1:30.
Westhill already had a win in the books, and was on the way to moving to 2-1 on the season, right behind 3-0 Homer and Chittenango in the Class B West division standings, before it fell apart late at Skaneateles.
Sophomore quarterback Zavion Barrett had thrown three TD passes, going 58 yards to Chase Gedney and then finding Jesse Chester twice on scoring plays of 15 and 30 yards, while Shaleek Giles had added a 24-yard field goal.
This made it 24-14 in the Warriors’ favor going to the fourth quarter, but it didn’t hold. Devin Callahan’s 39-yard scoring pass to Zach Blair cut the margin to 24-21, and with two minutes left, Callahan found Marc Pietropaoli on a 60-yard catch-and-run for the winning points.
Marcellus, like Westhill, was trying to get to 2-1 after it lost a 38-35 thriller to Skaneateles the week before, but never recovered from a first half where the Bears twice returned fumbles for touchdowns – 24 yards by Duncan Smith, 40 yards by Akira Gatewood on a botched trick play.
Not until late in the half did the Mustangs, trailing 28-0, get on the board with Mike Keegan’s seven-yard scoring pass to Tom Fiacchi. Keegan and Fiacchi would both add second-half TD runs, but the Bears won behind Justin Gondeck’s six-of-eight passing for 161 yards and Hunter Hendrix catching five passes for 116 yards, while also recording 10 tackles on defense.
Solvay gave an all-out effort as Homer ventured into “The Pit”, but didn’t score in the first half after Dustin Harris converted on a three-yard run in the opening period.
Moving the ball at will, the Trojans built a 28-6 lead by halftime. Ryan Wainwright and Jon Horner scored on first-quarter TD runs, with Jacob Rivers tossing a pair of scoring passes in the second period – three yards to Storm Grant, nine yards to Blake Allen.
Try as it could, Solvay could not rally, though it did add one more TD when Colin Lucio found Mike Yaizzo on a 29-yard scoring pass. Zach Chrysler had a team-high nine tackles, with Garrett Lee and Brandon Underwood each getting eight tackles.
Alex Britton earned seven tackles. Ben Durst led the team in rushing with 47 yards on 11 carries, a total Wainwright (92 yards on 14 carries) nearly doubled to lead Homer to victory.
The Bearcats will host Skaneateles next Friday at 6:30, just as Westhill hosts Syracuse ITC and Marcellus hosts Cortland.
