Much of Friday night’s football opener between Marcellus and Solvay was an evenly fought contest, with an exchange of scoring plays and plenty of excitement.
But it didn’t start out that way – and because of that, the Mustangs still have possession of the Tom Anthony Silver Cup, and the Bearcats, desperate for a turnaround, was denied again in a 41-21 defeat.
During those first 12 minutes, Marcellus got the jump on Solvay, earning 21 unanswered points, which allowed it some room to surrender points later in the game without surrendering control.
It didn’t take long for the Mustangs to get a 6-0 lead, moving to the Bearcats’ seven-yard line before Mike Keegan, one of two quarterbacks Marcellus utilizes, scored the touchdown.
A much bigger play came on the next possession. Pinned back at its own 16, Marcellus turned that around when Nate Garlow found a seam and took off, 84 yards to the other end zone. This accounted for most of Garlow’s 158 rushing yards on the night.
Then the Mustangs’ other quarterback, Tom Fiacchi, got his turn to shine when, from midfield, he found Aaron Smith for a 52-yard TD pass late in the period. Before Solvay could settle down, it was staring at a 21-0 deficit.
The Bearcats would get on the board in the second quarter with Jake Kyanka’s 29-yard run. But since Barlow scored again from three yards out, it didn’t make much of a dent, and the Mustangs took a 28-7 lead to the break.
Solvay unleashed its own passing attack in the third quarter thanks to Colin Lucio’s 48-yard TD pass to Mike Yaizzo, and Dustin Harris, who ran for 133 yards on 22 carries, scored on a three-yard run in the fourth quarter.
Still, it wasn’t enough. Fiacchi went deep again and found Garlow for a 68-yard TD pass, and Keegan scrambled 35 yards for six more points as the Mustangs’ big plays helped preserve its early margin for the rest of the night. Ben Durst paced Solvay with five tackles, while Harris and Rob Stafford had four tackles apiece.
No doubt, Marcellus and Solvay were paying attention when, a night earlier, Westhill made its season debut at Cortland and did not even get on the board in a 26-0 loss to the Purple Tigers.
Cortland, who moved down from the Class A ranks this fall to join B West, went through the same opening-night jitters as the Warriors did, neither side scoring in the first quarter.
When the second quarter started, though, the Purple Tigers took over, beginning with a drive to Westhill’s 23-yard line that led to Jacob Prignon throwing to Nick Craig in the end zone for the game’s first score.
Far more damaging was what happened a few minutes later. The Warriors appeared to have Cortland pinned on its own two-yard line, but then Dylan Brown took a handoff, got terrific blocking and went coast to coast, 98 yards for a damaging six points.
Right before halftime, the Purple Tigers made it 20-0 on Prignon’s second TD pass, 20 yards to Kiegan Brown. Cortland needed nothing more, but added another score in the third quarter when James Lane found the end zone from six yards out.
The losses Westhill and Solvay suffered give more urgency to next Friday’s clash on the Warriors’ home turf, right after Marcellus looks for 2-0 against another big rival, Skaneateles, who lost a narrow opener to Chittenango 26-21.