For another year, the Tom Anthony Silver Cup, prize of the annual football clash between Marcellus and Solvay, remains in possession of the team in green.
Though it was played on the new Field Turf at Al Merola Field, in front of the devoted fans of “The Pit”, the Mustangs spoiled the Bearcats’ home opener as, once again, quarterback Tom Fiacchi and company lit up an opposing defense on the way to a 41-26 victory.
Solvay had given new head coach Todd Lisi his first win six days earlier against Fowler. Yet that came on the same week that Marcellus announced its status as a Class B West division contender by winning 37-29 at two-time defending league champion Homer.
So when the Bearcats got on the board with Nate Chrysler’s one-yard touchdown plunge in the first quarter, it didn’t worry the Mustangs too much. Instead, Fiacchi, anticipating that Solvay would close his running lanes, threw the ball to stretch the defense – and found Ryan Pierce and Josh Widrick for scoring passes.
An active second quarter followed, with the Bearcats continuing to show how much its offense has improved. Alex Britton broke loose for a 34-yard TD run, and minutes later Jake Dippold went deep and found Nate Gardner for a 24-yard scoring strike.
Despite this good work, Solvay could not make up ground, since Marcellus also found the end zone twice, one of them on Fiacchi’s seven-yard scramble. Successful conversions helped, too, as Fiacchi’s extra points created a 27-18 halftime advantage.
What happened in the third quarter reflected the rest of the evening. Solvay converted again on Dippold’s second TD pass to Gardner, covering 13 yards, and again Marcellus added to its totals when Fiacchi threw a 20-yard scoring pass to Nate Lukins.
Marcellus played its best defense in the late going, and by doing so improved to 2-1. The Mustangs take a break from league play this Friday when it hosts Waverly (Section IV) at 7 p.m., while Solvay goes back on the road and visits Homer, who rebounded from the Marcellus loss to beat Skaneateles and, like the Mustangs, are 2-1 overall.
Far from all this, Westhill, trying to recover from a 35-7 home defeat to Skaneateles on Sept. 9, nearly did so at undefeated, state Class B no. 18-ranked Chittenango, but despite a brilliant defensive performance, the Warriors lost to the Bears by an unusual 8-3 margin.
No doubt, Chittenango, remembered the loss it took at home to Westhill a year ago, and got off to a quick start. Moving the ball to Westhill’s 11-yard line in the first quarter, the Bears converted when Christian Cerio tore through a block and found the end zone. Connor Fredericks followed it up with a two-point conversion.
And those were the only points Chittenango would attain, Westhill shut down the Bears’ ground game as Jack Gilmartin piled up 18 tackles, while Marcus Welch had 11 tackles and Zavion Barrott 10 tackles. Tom Howard (nine tackles) and Sean Corbett (nine tackles) helped out.
But when Westhill tried to get anything going, Chittenango made the stop, from an end-zone interception of Barrott’s pass in the second quarter to a turnover on downs at its own 22 early in the third period.
Even when Chittenango muffed a punt, its defense limited the Warriors to a Silvio Argentieri 29-yard field goal. Down the stretch, the Bears nearly gave it away, fumbling inside its own 40 with less than four minutes left, but once more the defense forced Westhill to turn it over on downs, and the Warriors never got as close again.
Barrott struggled against the Bears, completing only 14 of 35 passes for 156 yards. At least the Warriors did get something through the air as the Bears’ experienced group of linebackers stifled Westhill’s ground game, holding them to 35 yards all night.
Falling to 1-2 in the Class B West division, Westhill returns home this Friday and faces Syracuse Institute of Technology Central, Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
