At some point, the Chittenango football team’s path in the Section III Class B playoffs will include facing Cazenovia But it won’t happen in the first round, and it won’t take place at Buckley-Volo Field, two facts for which the Bears are quite grateful.
Chittenango richly earned its chance to play at home in next weekend’s opening round by going to Marcellus Friday night and putting away the Mustangs 42-20.
The stakes in this regular-season finale were high on both sides. Chittenango, with a 3-2 record in the Class B West division, were assured of going to the playoffs, but a loss would put them in fourth place in the league, and lined up for a first-round game at Cazenovia, the top seed from Class B East.
Marcellus was 4-1 in league play, tied for first with Homer. Since the Trojans beat Institute of Technology Central 34-6 on Friday, the Mustangs had to win to both share the league title and get the top seed since it beat Homer 37-29 earlier this season.
Of more immediate concern to Chittenango was the way Homer had handled them 26-0 a week earlier to create this urgent scenario. Needless to say, the Bears responded well to that urgency.
Midway through the first quarter, Chittenango got on the board as Conner Fredericks’ 40-yard run set up Christian Cerio’s three-yard touchdown run. Marcellus answered on its next drive, mixing runs and passes until Nate Lukins scored from one yard out, the extra point tying it 7-7.
To go in front for good, the Bears turned to the passing combination of Cooper Young and Hunter Hendrix, a 22-yard connection setting up a nine-yard scoring pass early in the second period. Then a 35-yard Young-to-Hendrix connection set up Cerio’s second TD, a two-yard run.
Now the Chittenango defense stepped up, with Tyrrell Downer’s interception and then, in the last minute of the half, Griffin Smith picking off Tom Fiacchi in the end zone to keep the Bears up 21-7 going into the break.
Fiacchi did take advantage of a coverage breakdown in the Bears’ secondary to find a wide-open Chris Patterson from 41 yards out to cut that lead in half, to 21-14, late in the third quarter.
But it was here that the Bears’ work on its front line really started to pay off as, minutes later, Cerio broke free for a 64-yard dash to the end zone that restored the two-touchdown advantage.
Fredericks picked off Fiacchi just before the period ended, setting up another Chittenango scoring drive as Downer followed perfect blocks on a 36-yard dash with 9:56 left. Though Fiacchi found Patterson again on a 32-yard scoring pass with 6:43 left, the Bears ran out most of the remaining clock, with Cerio netting his fourth TD in the waning seconds.
So next Friday night, Chittenango, the second-place finisher in B West, will meet Central Valley Academy, the third-place finisher in B East, in the sectional playoffs. A win by the Bears might mean a rematch of last year’s sectional semifinal with Cazenovia, who will take on Skaneateles in its playoff opener.
