One big event at Cazenovia High School’s Buckley-Volo Field – the football program’s first home night game in more than 60 years – was followed by another, Saturday’s festivities of Homecoming and Senior Day.
And in both cases, the festivities proved far more interesting than the games.
For the second week in a row, the Lakers scored 60-plus points on a winless opponent, rolling past the South Jefferson Spartans 62-12 and, by doing so, reclaimed control of the Class B East division.
About the only difference between this game and the 67-6 romp over Camden on Sept. 23 under temporary lights at Buckley-Volo was that it was played in the daytime and that the Lakers took a bit longer to reach its gaudy point total.
It was “only” 14-0 after one period, Cody Thorp starting the fun with a 33-yard touchdown run and Anthony Veccharelli scoring from four yards out, but Cazenovia turned things up with 27-point second-quarter blitz.
Matt Regan, already two-for-two on extra points, ran two yards for his lone TD of the game, with Austin Enders throwing 16 yards to Will Huftalen for another score. Veccharelli returned to score from 14 yards out before Clayton’ Fox’s six-yard run helped make it 41-6 going into halftime.
During a 21-point third quarter, Enders dashed 36 yards for one TD, and Regan threw 29 yards to Matt McLaughlin for another as Patrick Frisbey added a six-yard TD run. Enders rushed for 78 yards, just behind Thorp’s total of 90 yards as Regan completed seven of 10 passes for 137 yards, though he threw a pair of interceptions.
Defensively, McLaughlin and Will Khalil both intercepted passes as Kevin Stalder earned a team-high nine tackles and Joey Gates added seven tackles. Enders contributed six tackles as he and Ben Nichols both got a pair of sacks.
Meanwhile, the B East race changed again when Mexico went to Oneida and beat the Indians 31-15, while Central Valley Academy, who entered the week tied for first, lost 27-8 to Vernon-Verona-Sherrill and Utica-Notre Dame prevailed again, 24-7, over Camden.
Now the Lakers share first place at 4-1 with Mexico, and hold the tie-breaker of their head-to-head win Sept. 3 at the Carrier Dome, but it still might need to win both of its remaining games, at CVA this Friday and at Oneida six days later, in order to claim yet another B East regular-season title.
