Very little went to plan for the Chittenango football team when it ventured to Westhill Friday night, from a rash of penalties to a string of missed scoring opportunities.
Yet the visitors still left the field happy in the wake of a 21-13 victory over the Warriors that meant the Bears had gone 2-0 in a pair of season-opening road games and offered itself a challenger to Homer for Class B West division supremacy.
For that, Chittenango could thank its special teams, which was mostly responsible for the 21 points on the board, including the first seven on the night’s most spectacular play.
Westhill kicked off, and hit it out of bounds. Instead of taking the ball on its own 35-yard line, the Bears opted for another kickoff, and were quite glad when Francis Cerio took that kick at his own 15 and sped 85 yards to the other end zone.
That sudden 7-0 lead did not hold up. A botched punt snap late in the first quarter set up the Warriors for a tying touchdown on Marcus Welch’s three-yard run.
Cerio went back to work, his long kick return setting up a short field that the Bears converted into six points when Cerio scored from three yards out early in the second period
That’s where it stood at halftime, Chittenango up 13-7, yet knowing that it may have turned into a larger margin had it not squandered several chances created by two Westhill turnovers and a blocked punt.
Sam Hill responded in the third quarter with another blocked punt on Westhill’s first possession of the third quarter, putting the ball on the Warriors’ eight. Two plays later, Cerio’s third TD made it a 19-7 lead.
Even with that, and even with the Bears’ defense producing its second safety in as many weeks with 8:30 to play, Westhill, trailing 21-7, tried to rally as Welch replaced an injured Zavion Barrott at quarterback.
Aided by several Chittenango penalties, the Warriors cut the margin to eight on Logan McNitt’s three-yard scoring run with 3:19 left, and then Westhill recovered the onside kick, moving to the Bears’ 20 in the waning minutes.
But the Bears’ defense, a constant strength throughout the early portion of this season, made the stop it needed, Jacob Burgan breaking up a fourth-down pass in the end zone to snuff out the Warriors’ attempt to tie it.
Chittenango comes home undefeated and ready to take on Cortland next Friday at 7 p.m., with the Purple Tigers 0-2 following a 59-0 defeat to Homer.
