Within a seven-day span early in September, the Chittenango football team had the opportunity to remind everyone that, even with a new head coach (Curt Kielbasa) and lots of new players in key spots, it still had league and sectional championship aspirations.
The first emphatic statement was offered Friday night, at the outset of Labor Day weekend. Hosting Solvay, a team determined to climb out of a long stretch in the Class B West cellar, the Bears used defense and well-timed play-calling to shut out the Bearcats 29-0.
Like Chittenango, Solvay had a first-year head coach, and Todd Lisi and his players had expressed lots of confidence going into the season, saying that everything had changed with the Bearcats and that it was time for a once-proud program to roar again.
Chittenango didn’t have such concerns, Reaching the sectional semifinals a season ago (falling to eventual state champion Cazenovia) had garnered some notice, and at least against Solvay, those high standards remained intact.
Neither side scored in the first quarter, but the Bears started to fun at will against Solvay’s defense in the second period and scoring the season’s first points on Antonio Cutrie’s eight-yard run and Matt Collado’s extra point.
What followed proved even more important, though. Instead of kicking off deep, Chittenango went with an onside kick and fell on it. Now with a short field, the Bears again drove it to the end zone, this time Connor Fredericks scoring from four yards out.
With a 15-0 halftime lead, Chittenango could afford to keep it on the ground – and did so, for the most part. Fredericks and Christian Cerio both passed the century mark, Fredericks gaining 129 yards on 22 carries and Cerio adding 104 yards on 17 attempts.
Cooper Young only threw for 28 yards on three-of-seven completions, but one of those completions went to Tyrell Downer on a four-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. Griffen Smith added a nine-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter as Collado made all four of his PAT conversions.
Still at home this Thursday night, Chittenango goes in front of the Time Warner Cable Sports cameras for a game against Syracuse Institute of Technology Central, who lost its season opener 25-18 to Skaneateles.
