Two big road wins over two state-ranked opponents had the Westhill football team believing in itself and imagining a scenario where it could pick off the biggest prize of all.
Then the Section III Class B playoff game started Saturday afternoon at Buckley-Volo Field, and cold reality in the form of the Cazenovia Lakers hit the Warriors hard in a 42-6 defeat that halted a four-game win streak and Westhill’s title dreams, too.
Great as those wins at Chittenango (3-0 on Oct. 9) and Homer (21-6 on Oct. 16) were, they took place on the same type of Field Turf surface the Warriors employ at home.
But his was on Cazenovia’s natural surface at Buckley-Volo Field, where the Lakers had won 53 straight games and now carried the extra burden and responsibility of a no. 1 state ranking it inherited earlier in the week when Schalmont dropped out of the top spot.
Immediately, Westhill gave Cazenovia reasons for concern. A low Lakers punt into the line that got blocked put the Warriors inside the Lakers’ 20, but it couldn’t move anywhere, settling for Silvio Argentieri’s 32-yard field goal.
Once it got the ball back, the Lakers began to churn on the offensive side. Facing third down at midfield, Jake Shaffner read the blitz that was coming and threw a screen pass to Cole Willard, who sped past the remaining Westhill defenders into the end zone. Kevin Frega added a two-point run, and the Lakers were up 8-3.
Trying to answer, Westhill resorted to the trick plays, as tight end Chase Gedney took a lateral and threw it 37 yards to Jesse Chester. Ultimately, the Warriors got it to the Lakers’ four, only to again get denied , leaving Argentieri to return to hit a field goal from 21 yards out.
Cazenovia only led 8-6, but from making that pair of stands, the Lakers’ defense not only kept Westhill from going in front, but gained a confidence that would drive them the rest of the way, Brendan Whalen led that group, earning 10 tackles, two of them sacks, with Frega and Ben Nichols adding seven tackles apiece.
Paul McLaughlin began to assert his presence with a 26-yard reception late in the first quarter, which set up Shaffner’s one-yard TD plunge. Then, late in the second quarter, T.J. Connellan began to take direct snaps while lined up next to Shaffner and, during a 70-yard march, did much of the work, including the last four yards for the score that extended the Lakers’ lead to 21-6 at the break.
Westhill received the second-half kickoff, but on the first play Frega pressured Warriors quarterback Zavon Barrett into a pass that McLaughlin picked off and moved deep into Warriors territory before Anthony Vecchiarelli scored from five yards out.
So began a near-perfect third quarter on the Lakers’ side, featuring a string of defensive stops as Cazenovia’s sack total went to five.
Late in the period, the Lakers’ passing attack put the game away, as Frega’s 28-yard run set up Shaffner finding a wide-open Willard on a 40-yard scoring strike. Minutes later, as the clock ran out in the period, Shaffner lined up wide, with Connellan taking the step and throwing deep to Shaffner for a 31-yard TD pass.
