Both through its own actions and that of others, the Westhill football team finds itself back in a Class B West division title where its season-opening win over Marcelllus on Sept. 1 at the Carrier Dome may prove valuable.
While the Mustangs were struggling at home Friday night in its lone non-league game of the season, falling 44-14 to Section IV power Waverly, the Warriors, mired at 1-2 and needing a league win, got it at home by holding off Syracuse’s Institute of Technology Central 34-20.
That there were so many points wasn’t anticipated following a scoreless first quarter. Westhill was in a genuine slump, having only scored one touchdown in its last nine quarters dating back two weeks to a Sept. 9 defeat to Skaneateles.
All of that changed, though, when the Warriors blocked an ITC punt early in the second period that Jon Gwilt recovered in the end zone.
And even when a Westhill turnover led to Nizavier Evans’ four-yard TD run, the offense, sparked by the work of special teams, drove to the end zone, where Zavion Barrott found Casey Rogers for a two-yard scoring strike that made it 13-6 going into halftime.
It stayed that way through a scoreless third quarter, Westhill turning it over inside ITC’s 20, but not getting discouraged because it drove again early in the final period and, with 9:28 left, made it 20-6 when Barrott hit Rogers again for a 20-yard scoring strike.
The Eagles offered a quick answer when Isaiah Vega returned the ensuing kickoff 92 yards for a TD and made the ensuing two-point conversion, cutting the Warriors’ lead to 20-14. Again, though, the Warriors returned to ITC’s end and scored on Barrott’s third scoring pass of the night, six yards to Silvino Argentieri, who would also make four of his five extra-point attempts.
With 3:58 left and trailing 27-14, the Eagles made things interesting once more when Chaunel Flowers scored from five yards out. After a missed conversion, Westhill patiently drove and sealed the victory when, with 1;30 left, Marcus Welch went five yards for the TD.
At 2-2 in league play, Westhill now sit one game behind the first-place tie shared by Chittenango and Skaneateles in the wake of the Lakers’ come-from-behind 18-15 win over the Bears, with Homer 2-1 in league play as the Trojans will visit the Warriors next Friday at 6:30.
Homer, the two-time defending B West division champions, moved to 3-1 overall at the expense of Solvay, who turned Friday’s road game into a wild, exciting affair, but ultimately paid for a slow start in a 55-42 defeat to the Trojans.
It wasn’t until the second quarter that the Bearcats, 1-2 going into the game, got on the board thanks to Jake Dippold’s 42-yard TD pass to Nate Gardner. By then, though, Homer had a lead it would not relinquish.
During the opening period, the Trojans twice found the end zone, going up 14-0 as Jacob Rivers threw a two-yard scoring pass to Dante Yacavone and Matt Guerra scored from 12 yards out.
Even when Solvay broke through, it came amid a 27-point second-quarter flurry by the Trojans, mostly due to Guerra’s big-play ability, though Rivers did break free for a 33-yard scoring sprint.
After catching a five-yard TD pass, Guerra went long and took Rivers’ pass 65 yards to the end zone. Following Dippold’s second scoring pass, 16 yards to Gardner, Guerra returned to burn Solvay’s secondary on yet another 65-yard TD connection with Rivers.
Trailing 41-12 at halftime, Solvay saw things get worse when Guerra took the third-quarter kickoff and ventured 84 yards to the end zone.
It was too big of a deficit to overcome, but the Bearcats finished strong. Alex Britton twice found the end zone on runs of one and 20 yards in between Zach Chrysler’s 19-yard scoring run and Dippold throwing a 32-yard scoring pass to Gardner.
For the night, Dippold completed eight of 28 passes for 218 yards, Gardner catching four of those passes for 132 yards. Aiding Guerra, Homer’s Kevin Bush ran for a game-high 134 yards and scored his team’s last touchdown of the night.
Solvay will host ITC next Friday at 6:30, with both the Bearcats and Eagles still in search of their first league win of the season as Marcellus has a crucial league game hosting archrival Skaneateles at 7 p.m.
Against Waverly, the Mustangs only trailed 9-7 through one quarter as Tom Fiacchi scored on a one-yard plunge, but the Wolverines put things away by scoring 35 unanswered points over the course of the next two periods before Fiacchi found the end zone again in the waning minutes.
