Wherever the Skaneateles football team ends up in this 2016 season, it has in the books a come-from-behind victory that will long get talked about.
Trailing by eight points with less than a minute to play in Friday night’s game at Hyatt Stadium against undefeated, state Class B no. 16-ranked Chittenango, the Lakers took two gambles, saw each of them pay off and received a clutch kick from a back-up to record a stunning 19-16 victory over the Bears.
All of this started with Skaneateles down 16-8 late in the fourth quarter and pinned at its own 10-yard line, knowing it had to go the length of the field against a Chittenango defense that had only surrendered 17 points the entire season.
Sophomore quarterback Pat Hackler didn’t flinch in the face of this challenge, moving the Lakers down the field. Then, with 50 seconds left, Hackler threw a lateral to Tyler Schneider, who in turn flung it down to the end zone, where Matt Goetzmann caught it for the touchdown.
That made it 16-14, so the Lakers still needed the two-point conversion to tie – and got it. Now, with things even, most in the crowd, and perhaps Chittenango, expected a conventional kickoff, leaving the Bears the choice of trying to drive for winning points or settle for overtime.
They got neither.
Skaneateles head coach Joe Sindoni called for an onside kick, and the Lakers got to it first. Suddenly, it had the ball in Chittenango territory with time enough to get into scoring position.
Hackler again marched his side into position, inside the Bears’ 10. And it put the game on the foot of placekicker Nick Wamp, a freshman who only had the job because, two weeks earlier, Cross Bianchi, who started the season handling the kicking duties, broke his ankle.
It was a 25-yard field goal, but despite the pressure, Wamp walloped it through the uprights with nine seconds to play for the winning points.
All of this seemed improbable given the way things started. Chittenango bolted out to a 16-0 lead by halftime thanks to a safety and pair of touchdowns, while the Lakers could not move against the Bears’ formidable defense.
In the third quarter, though, Hackler’s TD pass to Nate Wellington, plus a two-point conversion, cut Chittenango’s lead in half, setting things up for the wild ending.
All of this has thrown the Class B West division wide-open. Skaneateles, at 3-1, is tied for first with Chittenango, but holds the head-to-head tie-breaker, while Marcellus and Homer are both 2-1 in league play.
And it’s the Lakers, flush with the momentum from this last-minute rally, going to Marcellus next Friday for a game that’s not only the continuation of a long and fierce rivalry, but also one that will matter in the league race. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
