Minutes away from having another post-season run cut short, the Chittenango football team showed its inner steel.
A pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns helped the Bears fight off Central Valley Academy 44-30 in Friday night’s opening round of the Section III Class B playoffs and set up a second chance in as many years to take down its neighbors from Cazenovia in the semifinal round.
Chittenango had trailed for most of the game, with its defense, a strong point for most of the season, unable to contain Thunder running back Josh Klosner, who had 19 carries for 258 yards.
Yet the Bears only were down by two, 30-28, early in the final period when it lined up at midfield. With CVA worried about covering tight end Hunter Hendrix, who had caught a pair of TD passes from Cooper Young, Chittenango instead had Tyrrell Downer throw an option pass downfield and find Trevor Butler for a 50-yard go-ahead touchdown.
Energized by that score, the Bears’ defense made a crucial stand, and it got back the ball and drove to the Thunder’s one-yard line, where Connor Fredericks took it to the end zone for the clinching points.
Fredericks also earned Chittenango’s opening TD on a two-yard run in the first quarter. Yet CVA zoomed out in front, 16-7, when Gunnar Holmberg scored on a three-yard run and Klosner sped 57 yards for a TD.
The two sides traded big plays in the second quarter, with Christian Cerio breaking out for a 60-yard scoring run for the Bears, and the Thunder answering with Noah Gelosor’s 34-yard TD pass to Adam Klosner and its third two-point conversion.
That created a 24-14 halftime deficit that the Bears started to overcome in the third quarter with Young finding Hendrix on scoring passes of 42 and three yards, which led to the late-game big plays by Downer and others.
Aside from his offensive contributions, Hendrix also recorded 15 tackles on the defensive side. Jacob Burgan had nine tackles, with Fredericks and Brian Coe each earning eight tackles and Antonio Cutrie six tackles. Cerio led the Bears with 123 rushing yards on 19 carries.
A day later, amid even worse playing conditions, Chittenango watched Cazenovia crush Skaneateles 51-0, setting up the Madison County sequel to last fall’s sectional semifinal that the Lakers won 47-6 en route to a state championship.
They’ll meet on the same field at Fayetteville-Manlius as they did in 2015, kicking off Friday night at 5 p.m. The Bears hope to, at least, give itself a chance at payback against the Lakers, and whoever wins this time around gets to the Carrier Dome Nov. 6 at 3 p.m. to face Homer or Mexico in the sectional final.
