Sure, it didn’t count in the league standings, so the West Genesee football team still shares the top spot in the Class AA-1 division two weeks into the season.
But the Wildcats still went through a humbling experience in Friday night’s trip to Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, falling 36-7 to Baldwinsville and learning that it still has a lot of work to do if it wants to be a long-term league and Section III title contender.
Fresh from handling Central Square 43-14 in its Sept. 5 opener in Camillus, WG knew the challenge would be much greater at B’ville, who had handled Auburn 30-6 a week earlier with its usual blend of a powerful ground game and a tough, physical defense.
One way to counteract such issues is to excel at special teams – and on the opening kickoff, the Wildcats nearly threw a haymaker at the Bees.
Colln BeVard picked up that ball and tore through B’ville’s special teams, all the way to the end zone. But instead of a 6-0 edge, WG reeled from seeing a yellow flag on the Pelcher-Arcaro grass, the result of a holding penalty that negated the touchdown.
Given that reprieve, the Bees’ defense clamped down, not letting WG near the end zone throughout the first quarter. Yet it took Cameron Skipworth’s long punt return late in the period to get the Bees’ offense rolling. That return went to the Wildcats’ 30-yard line and, two plays later, Skipworth went in for the game’s first score on a 28-yard run that did not get penalized.
B’ville saved its best work, though, for the second quarter. On a third-down-and-14 play from its own 20, the Bees gave it to Sam Mahar, who tore 67 yards deep into Wildcat territory and set up Tom Scarfino’s 25-yard field goal.
Then the defense really started to shine, especially linebacker Cole Burchill, whose recovered fumble led to one score and who added an interception that set up his own offensive TD, when Burchill caught a 21-yard pass from quarterback Madison Wolfanger.
Proving that he could do more than just hand off the ball, Wolfanger threw a pair of TD passes in that second quarter, with the strike to Burchill and another one to Skipworth that covered 24 yards. He also scored his own touchdown on a one-yard plunge.
Add it all up, and it left WG trailing 30-0 at halftime. The Wildcats didn’t even get a chance to regroup before Skipworth, who had 164 yards on 13 carries, took off on a 72-yard sprint to the end zone early in the third quarter.
From there, the Bees didn’t score again, but the defense managed to keep the shutout until WG finally scored on James Kerr’s two-yard run in the final period.
The Wildcats’ quarterback, Dashon Turner, completed just five of 15 passes for 41 yards and threw two interceptions – one to Burchill, the other to Sam Smith. Joey Vetter carried the ball 17 times for 67 yards.
Adding to the Wildcats’ woes was a ferocious Bees pass rush that caused all kinds of trouble, especially from Mark Lannier, who recorded three sacks by night’s end.
For the rest of the regular season, WG will face AA-1 division foes, starting with next Friday’s visit to Nottingham for a 6:30 kickoff. The Bulldogs, who moved up from Class A to AA this fall, are also 1-1, having beaten Rome Free Academy in its opener before a 51-6 defeat to CBA a week later.
