Back-to-back road victories to open the season had put the Chittenango football team into the no. 16 spot in the first state Class B rankings of the fall.
However, Bears fans were wary because, in those two wins over Institute of Technology Central and Westhill, Chittenango had only mustered 33 total points, and four of them came from safeties.
All of that changed, though, when 0-2 Cortland paid a Friday-night visit to Bear Country. Within a half, Chittenango had more than doubled its 2017 output, and cruised from there to beat the Purple Tigers 46-12.
Griffen Smith was the Bears’ main catalyst. He scored the game’s first touchdown on a 24-yard run, but saved his biggest play for the second quarter.
Cortland had just cut Chittenango’s lead to 13-6 on Dylan Strauf’s one-yard scoring plunge. The Purple Tigers nearly reached the goal line with the kickoff, but Smith took it at the two and then, picking up blocks from his teammates, tore 98 yards to the other end zone.
That ignited a 21-point scoring blitz by the Bears. Connor Caporin, who had already scored from one yard out, added a 23-yard TD sprint, and Brian Lamaitis found Jacob Burgan on a 34-yard connection for six more points to make it 34-6 going into halftime.
Chittenango had enough to win, but Lamaitis and Francis Cerio, who scored all three touchdowns against Westhill a week earlier, both found the end zone on short runs in the third quarter.
Smith ran 11 times for 133 yards, while Brian Coe and Keith Spurgeon led the Bears’ defense, each of them getting 10 tackles. Smith and Coe both recorded interceptions as Cerio produced five tackles. Caporin, Tyler Daviau and Devon Spaulding were credited with sacks.
Before Chittenango has its first-place Class B West showdown with Homer Sept. 29, it must first host Canastota next Friday at 7 p.m. The Raiders’ 3-0 start, where it has outscored its foes by a combined 161-25 margin, left them at no. 7 in the state Class C rankings.
A day later, Cazenovia won big on the road, prevailing 41-7 at Utica-Notre Dame in a game that was, for the visitors, highly motivational on two fronts.
One part was simple enough – stay undefeated and atop the Class B West division standings with a big home game against Oneida looming. The other part involved merely seeing the Jugglers again.
For it was this same UND side that, one year ago, went into Buckley-Volo Field and brought a shocking end to the Lakers’ 51-game home win streak. No Cazenovia partisan could forget this, and the players, both returning veterans and newcomers, were bent on payback.
Besides, the state Class B no. 7-ranked Lakers needed to show that it could get off to a strong start, which it hadn’t done against Mexico or Vernon-Verona-Sherrill the previous two weeks.
That didn’t prove a problem as Cazenovia led 21-0 before the first quarter was done.
Matt Regan got it started, throwing a 13-yard touchdown pass to Jake Macheda and then scrambling three yards for another score. Already trailing by double digits, the Jugglers got burned by the Lakers’ defense late in the period when Macheda recovered a UND fumble a the 17 and went in for his second TD.
Two more solid drives followed in the second quarter, the Lakers converting on TD runs of 13 yards by Matt McLaughlin and five yards by Regan. That made it 35-0 by halftime, and Regan, before exiting in the second half, used a long scramble to set up Drew Johnson’s four-yard scoring plunge.
Macheda ran for a team-best 94 yards on 10 carries, with Regan gaining 82 yards on the ground. Meanwhle, Cazenovia’s defense held the Jugglers to 138 total yards as Sean Szlamczynski had six tackles, two of them for losses, to lead the unit. Kevin Stalder added an interception.
Now the Lakers welcome Oneida for Saturday’s Homecoming game. After a season-opening loss to Camden, the Indians have defeated Class B newcomer New Hartford (10-7) and Central Valley Academy (27-14), knowing full well it will have to play a lot better at Cazenovia to make it three wins in a row.
