A win over a main rival is nice enough. Attaining it, while improving one’s chances to grab a league championship, is even nicer.
The Marcellus football team accomplished both things on Friday night when it defeated Skaneateles 35-24, improving to 3-2 on the season but, more importantly, moving its record to 3-1 in the Class B West division.
the Mustangs share first place in B West with Homer and Chittenango. Marcellus has already beaten the Trojans, and will finish the regular season Oct. 14 at home against the Bears after next Friday’s game against Institute of Technology Central.
Whatever the permutations, it wouldn’t matter much for the Mustangs if it didn’t beat Skaneateles first. The Lakers arrived with a 3-1 record, carrying lots of momentum after a last-minute comeback to upend then-unbeaten Chittenango 19-16 seven days earlier.
Or at least that was the initial impression. The reality was that Marcellus was quite ready for whatever Skaneateles would throw a them, roaring out to a 28-0 lead that proved impossible for the Lakers to overcome.
Midway through the first quarter, the Mustangs had moved to the Lakers’ 37-yard line. Tom Fiacchi decided to go to the end zone, and he found Nate Garlow for the touchdown.
Another key early moment was the Marcellus defense stopping Skaneateles after turning the ball over. Sparked by that stop, the Mustangs made it 14-0 early in the second quarter on Rob Seeley’s 27-yard TD run.
With 3:15 left in the half, Fiacchi solved the Lakers defense again, going 41 yards to Matt Reich for his second scoring pass of the night. Not only did Marcellus lead, 21-0, at the break, it got the ball to start the second half, and would add to that margin.
The key play was another long pass from Fiacchi to Reich, with the Mustangs quarterback going the last five yards for six points. The successful extra point made it 28-0.
Only now did the Lakers get on the board, as it attempted another miracle comeback by scoring twice on runs by Pat Hackler (of 18 yards) and Areh Boni (of 23 yards) to cut the margin to 28-12 before Fiacchi scored his second rushing TD with 3:48 left to clinch it.
While Marcellus finds itself in prime position to return to the Section III playoffs, Westhill saw its chances get hurt with a 21-0 defeat to Homer.
It was, for the Trojans, quite a turnaround from giving up 42 points to Solvay the week before. Homer won that game, 55-42, but when it ventured to Westhill, its defense made sure the Warriors didn’t get on the board.
All game long, Westhill moved the ball down the field, seeing tailback Marcus Welch gain 202 yards on 23 carries. Yet every time the Warriors got close to Homer’s goal line, the Trojans would make the key stops.
Homer would have to grind out its own scoring drives, but at least it did earn points. John Horner scored on a pair of one-yard runs that gave the Trojans a 14-0 halftime lead, and Horner found the end zone again from 10 yards out in the third quarter.
Unable to answer, Westhill fell to 2-3 on the season, and has a non-league game with Bishop Kearney next Friday before closing the regular season Oct. 14 at Solvay.
As for the Bearcats, it welcomed Insitute of Technology Central to Al Merola Field on Friday, where again Solvay put up points, but not enough of them to offset defensive issues in a 40-24 defeat to the Eagles.
Ironically, the first half mostly belonged to the defenses, ITC getting in front on Mike McLeod’s 14-yard run plus a two-point conversion, Solvay answering when Jake Dippold scrambled for his own 14-yard TD run, plus a two that tied it, 8-8, going into the break.
The Eagles reclaimed the lead for good on Jujuan Cousins’ 10-yard TD run in the third quarter, and Cousins returned to score again from three yards out early in the final period.
Those plays, along with Nizavier Evans’ five-yard scoring run, put things out of reach for the Bearcats, though it would score twice in the final minutes on Dippold’s 24-yard pass to Nate Gardner and Zach Chrysler’s two-yard run.
Solvay will travel next Friday to face the same Skaneateles side that fell at Marcellus. Ironically, a Bearcats win could help Westhill’s playoff chances.
